Fate Stay Night: The Sword and The Blacksmith
by Good stories here
Summary: The fifth Holy Grail War, one of the easiest things to change with a simple 'What if? This world has three of them and it's going to lead to glorious chaos. So let's see what happens when we have a man to help reforge Shirou's ideals, A woman that Shirou calls his mother and... Actually I'll let the last one be a surprise. Rated M because I'm not shy about gore.
1. Chapter 1

Fate Stay Night: The Sword and the Blacksmith

-i-

In a world much like ours a hidden event takes place called the Holy Grail War. In a certain city in Japan seven humans each partnered with legendary spirits called Servants, fight over an object called the Holy Grail, though it is not the one from King Arthur's legend. However this event is quite chaotic where even the smallest change in a given timeline will lead to a wildly different conclusion.

This is most apparent in the fifth cycle of this event thanks to a certain broken human called Shirou Emiya; 'but what makes this guy so special?' you're bound to ask as you witness time and again Shirou's almost total blindness to people's feelings that involve 'attraction, love, and screw it let's just put down the average human female here'. Yeah Shirou Emiya is a complete and total idiot when comes to the matters of the heart but wait, there's more! This idiot has two more fatal flaws hidden away like the world's worst Easter egg hunt. His biggest flaw is also his greatest strength, the impossible dream to save everyone or at the very least save as many people as he can. It doesn't stop there though because the kid has a little (BIG) case of survivor's guilt and possible PTSD. Yes sir, the universe is almost certain to use Shirou as its favourite pastime with how damaged he is; and what better way than to pass the time then to throw him into the highly dangerous Holy Grail War.

This is where all the little 'what ifs' tend to show their work, because Shirou is like a broken sword just waiting to be reforged and the end result is always nothing short of fantastic. With so many worlds created by a single 'What if' like the world where Shirou's gender is changed by a perverted red wand.

* * *

 _Meanwhile in a parallel universe_

"Achoo!" The floating red per "DON'T FINISH THAT SENTENCE WRITER!" wand. The floating red wand looked around in confusion.

"Ruby what are you doing?" The red pervert wand giggled at the small girl with false cheer.

"Oh nothing, just a silly little

* * *

 _Back to the current parallel universe_

WAIT I WASN'T FINISHED TALKING!"

So instead of viewing a world with only one 'What if'. Let's view a world with THREE 'What ifs' in place and see it all tumble into a complete mess of glorious chaos.

* * *

 _Fuyuki Hospital- Sometime after the Great Fire_

The room was quiet; something that wouldn't be too uncommon in a hospital if it weren't for the fact the room was full of children. Not a single child was crying out in confusion, not even moaning about how boring it was and if a parent were in that room the most heartbreaking thing they would see was how every one of them had a haunted far off look in their eyes.

The haunting silence was broken however by a conversation between a man and a nurse.

"Yes I see, thank you." A man with a black long coat walked into the room and spotted who he was looking for, a small child with bright red hair and bright amber eyes.

"Hello, you must be Shirou." He said with tinge of uncertainty.

"I suppose I'll come right out and ask you which you would prefer. Being sent off to an orphanage or being taken in by a man you just met." He continued this time without the uncertainty. Shirou looked stunned by the man's rather ridiculous offer but started to make a small show of thinking over the choice. After closing his eyes to complete his look of 'Deep in thought' Shirou opened one eye to look at this stranger and gave him the answer by pointing at him.

The man let out a noise that can only be described as surprised and overjoyed at the same time.

"I'm glad, then let's get you dressed right away. You need to get acclimated to your new home as soon as possible." The man had a small smile on his face as he spoke.

"Oh. I forgot to mention something you should know. I have to tell you an extremely important fact. Ready?" Shirou looked at the man with rapt attention.

"Yeah I should do this right now." The man said under his breath as if to confirm something he spent some time mauling over.

"You see Shirou, I am a mage." Shirou looked at the man in awe and wonderment. As the new Father and Son walked out the hospital, Shirou saw a woman standing by the car that they were walking too.

When they reached the car Shirou looked at the woman inquisitively and then looked to his new father for an answer, the man saw this and his eyes suddenly seemed to convey a conflict of emotions.

"Right, Shirou I would like you to meet my partner and also your new mother." He said with some sadness leaking through his voice. The woman knelt down so she and Shirou were about eye level, she had an uncertain smile on her face.

"Hello Shirou, I'm Maiya Hisau." She paused for a moment looking unsure of what to say next.

"It's nice to meet you?" Shirou looked at Maiya in confusion before nodding his head at her as if to say the same thing.

"What a shady bunch we make." The man said under his breath however Maiya still heard him and paused for a moment, thinking on how to respond to his comment.

"We are not that shady Kiritsugu." Even though the response held the sounds of reprimanding and caring, it sounded like a hollow mimicry of something she'd once heard.

"Right, sorry about that." Kiritsugu responded with some befuddlement.

"Shirou." The kid looked up at Kiritsugu, waiting for him to continue.

"Are you ready to see your new home?" The kid responded by smiling and nodding his head.

* * *

 _An unknown Mage base in Switzerland_

BOOM!

"I am become error!" A man shouted as he jumped through the newly created hole in the wall, as he landed he quickly jumped to his right as a barrage of curses and spells and mystic code based projectiles launched at him.

"Don't let him get any further away from the compound!" Someone yelled from inside the rather large facility.

"Got to get to the forest, got to get to the forest, got to get to the forest." The runaway repeated in a panic, the snow on the ground barely slowing down his pace as he continued to duck, weave, and roll past the flying projectiles.

"He's at the edge of the bounded field!" A random mook yelled while firing another curse at the runaway. Said runaway heard the mook's warning and couldn't help but complain.

"This is going to hurt like a bitch." The snow around the runaway started to sizzle and melt allowing the man to start sprinting. The rest of the mooks started shouting some message or warning to their higher ups but the runaway was having trouble hearing them at that point.

With his body starting to glow red from the heat he was giving off, the runaway tore through the bounded field with ease. The projectiles lessened quite noticeable after that, letting the runaway slip away from the fighting.

"Okay, I need a place to lie low. I need to go to a place where a bunch of snobs like them wouldn't think to look." The runaway said to himself as he slowed down to a brisk walk.

"England is a no go, those assholes have way too many eyes and ears there." The runaway heard the sound of shuffling in the snow; he quickly stopped and hid behind a tree.

"Any sign of him?" Random mook number one asked.

"Not yet, I think he's stopped using his magecraft." Random mook number two replied back.

"Damn it!" The two mooks ran past the runaway without spotting him.

"Phew~" The runaway wiped the imaginary sweat from his forehead and started walking again.

"Okay now where was I? Ah right, a place to lay low." He nodded to himself as if remembering where you left off a conversation with yourself was an achievement.

"America's out too because they know I only really speak English." The runaway then got his preverbal light bulb moment.

"I should go to Japan, no mage ever goes to Japan unless they absolutely have too these days." The runaway put his hand to his chin as he looked to go into deep thought.

"The problem with that however is that I don't speak the language, I guess I can get one of those translator books. I'll just wing the rest of it and see how it works out." The runaway went quiet as he heard more sounds coming his way.

' _Just got to make it out of this hell hole first_.' The runaway then continued his game of Hide 'n' Seek: The Probably Going to Kill You Edition-TM.

* * *

 _Meanwhile in a library where all the books have turned into 5kg gummy bears_

"Why would you do this!" The owner of the library said with tears in her eyes.

"Well to be honest it seemed like a good idea at the time." An old looking gentleman said as he stroked his beard.

"How?! How did turning all my books into gummy bears sound like a good idea?!" The librarian yelled at the old gentleman.

"Everyone just looked so low energy and I thought that maybe giving everyone some snack food would be a nice thing to do." The old gentleman said with an amazing display of logic.

"I should've never let you enter this place." The librarian said to herself in a mumble.

"I would be impressed if you could keep me out, actually I'll have to look for a world where you are capable of keeping me out." The old gentleman said to himself. Then the old gentleman whipped his head up to the sky.

"Well I'll be! What a wonderful set of changes! I must go and see what happens next myself. Sorry for the trouble Ma'am, here is the mystic code to change all your books back to normal." The old gentleman tuned out the librarian's complaints of not understanding even a third of the mystic code to change back her books and started running towards Japan, of course this might change soon. Not where he was going but Japan's name that is, stranger things tend to happen when Zelretch is involved and he's not even one of the 'What ifs' of this misadventure.

 **AN:**

 **I'M BACK!**

 **Hello ladies and gentlemen! Right, let's get the big ones out of the way. I've completely forgotten where I was going with my persona story and I want to rewrite the Naruto story because I read it back and the spelling made me facepalm. So is this story going to be different and actually get updates? I have no idea! But this story is meant to just be a fun time with the serious stuff showing up really far off into the future, or really close in the future. Depends, I'm flipping a coin on what I want to do with Illya.**

 **Oh and if someone would like to lend me a hand in making sure I don't stray too much from Fate/Stay Night magic rules that would be grand.**

 **Until then I hope you have a lovely hot chocolate on hand with some biscuits or cookies to dunk with your drink. BYE BYE!**


	2. Chapter 2

-ii-

Shirou Emiya.

That was his name now and he couldn't be happier about it.

 **Fire**

His new home was also really big, they even had a dojo to practice kendo in.

 **"HELP ME!" Keep walking to live**

He'd also met this new girl, Taiga Fujimura, though she keeps telling him to call her Fuji-nee.

 **"Please… Save me…" The rock won't move**

 **You'll die if you try to save them**

He's also found something he really likes to do that isn't house work, which Fuji-nee says he shouldn't be so quick to help with. It's cooking! He's slowing get better, maybe one day he can

 **You failed to save them**

 **You failed to survive**

 **Death will come now**.

"ARGH!" Shirou bolted awake with tears in his eyes. He couldn't help but shake as he hugged himself but he found no comfort in the act, how could he when he shouldn't even be alive.

Before Shirou's thoughts could grow any darker someone opened the door to his room.

"Shirou? Shirou!" Maiya quickly pulled Shirou into a hug that was firm but not crushing.

"It's alright Shirou. Shhh it's okay." Maiya let Shirou cry into her shoulder and they stayed this way until, almost unwillingly, Shirou fell back to sleep. Maiya slowly laid Shirou back into his futon and tucked him in so he wouldn't be cold.

' _This has been happening far too much lately'_ Maiya thought to herself as she left Shirou's room.

' _Shirou is getting better though. I just have to be patient and supportive; I need to be something he can count on. Just like with Kiritsugu.'_ Despite her thoughts Maiya felt a swell of worry raise in her chest, which confused her even more. Her feelings for Shirou just kept on growing more and more complex, she didn't understand it but recently Shirou had started to call her Mum.

The first time Shirou said this, it seemed to be an accident as he became rather flustered afterwards. Maiya playing the role of caring mother she had seen Irisviel fill so perfectly, used what she felt were the natural responses to what Shirou had done

 _"It's alright Shirou. I am you mother even if it is through adoption." She told Shirou with playful sounding tones._

She was merely playing the role she felt best for Kiritsugu's situation but didn't truly feel the emotions that were meant to be used in the role of a loving mother. That was until the second time Shirou called her Mum, this time however when he said it, Shirou sounded like he was testing whether or not the title fit her. This was when she felt something raise in her chest, it wasn't painful but she couldn't explain it either.

It all seemed to snowball from there onwards; logically she knew that these were the feelings of an actual mother. Yet it still terrified her because she didn't understand them.

 _'Focus Maiya, just because things have been quiet these last two months doesn't mean you can let your guard down. Kiritsugu's still trying to get Lady Illya back but, I can't afford to slip up because this is a low risk area.'_ As Maiya was drifting off to sleep she couldn't help but plan what she was going to do tomorrow. Starting with what to make for breakfast, if she could pry Shirou away from the kitchen first that is.

 _Meanwhile in the Switzerland international Airport_

A man dressed in casual shorts and a Hawaiian button up shirt was sitting in the waiting area for departure. If it weren't for his very dark sun glasses, people would see the man constantly checking the T.V screens with security footage.

 _'This is the last leg, come on mate, you can do it.'_ His prayer had been answered it seemed as his flight was finally making the announcement for passengers to start boarding the plane. The Runaway should have known better than to count his lucky stars because just as he was three people away from boarding the plane, one last person joined the cue.

The Runaway didn't pay the man any attention but, then he heard something that he really wished he hadn't.

"I'm sorry sir but this ticket is invalid." The air hostess said with some apprehension.

"Are you sure? **Because this ticket still looks valid.** " The Runaway didn't stop and turn because that would attract the mage's attention but his now visible amount of sweat might tip him off.

 _'Well shit.'_ The Runaway concluded in his head.

 _'Those asshats have either found me or it's just another mage looking to lay low.'_ He tried to relax as he got to his seat on the plane. Maybe he could catch a look at this fellow when the mage walked past his seat.

"Pardon me but do you mind if I sit here?" The Runaway finally got a look at his fellow mage, only for him to wish he really hadn't.

"Yeah, no problem mate, have a seat." The Runaway replied but what was going on in his head was

 _'SON OF A BIIIIIIIIIIIII'_ Kiritsugu Emiya was sitting next to him, the Magus Killer that not only won the fourth Holy Grail War but was rumored to have also destroyed the thing? Well just give the Runaway a gun and he'd save the Magus Killer the trouble.

"My name is Kiritsugu Emiya what's yours." Although Kiritsugu's tone was polite, the Runaway could tell that he was fishing for information.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Michael Wingdom." Our now named runaway said with a defeated tone. He didn't miss Kiritsugu's narrowing pupils either.

"Yeah I'm a mage. You're going to kill me when we get off the plane." Kiritsugu didn't deny or confirm this, in fact his face became practically emotionless.

"Whether I will or not depends on why you got on this plane to begin with." Michael was briefly surprised but quickly decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Well long story slightly shorter is that I provide a lot of the weapons and armor for the Edelfelt's but they recently pissed off a third generation combat based family who decided ' _Since we can't take down the Edelfelt family let's try and buy out their top gear provider!_ ' Which I said no to, in their base, filled with all the hired mages and family members." Kiritsugu remained stoic which Michael took as his hint to explain any other facts.

"Uh, even though the Edelfelt family are my top customers, I do provide my services to everyone else, if they can afford it of course." Kiritsugu's face betrayed no emotion which made it almost surprising when he spoke.

"Why would the Edelfelt family come to you for combat equipment?" Kiritsugu's voice didn't even sound mechanical as even machines would have more emotion in them.

"Ah, my works are a little bit different in that a lot of mages who don't have the resources to create mystic code embedded objects or weaponry tend to buy basic combat ones from blacksmiths like me. What makes mine different is that my works are highly customizable in what you can do with it, the highest compliment my work has received is that it's already fit for combat but it's also like a blank canvas for mages to work with. Does that answer your question?" Michael's voice was growing back into its usual confidence.

"One last question." The empty being beside him answered.

"Why did you enter the mage base if you knew about the hostile relationship between the two families?" Michael couldn't help but feel absolutely sheepish at this.

"I didn't. I had just got back from vacation when I received a business invitation from the… Argh, how am I meant to say that name?" Michael was trying to repeat the name of the family but gave up fairly quickly.

"Screw it; I'll just call them The Assholes. Anyway I only learned of The Assholes and the Edelfelts new rocky relationship at the business meeting. They tried to strong arm me into working for them, then they tried to kill me, which lead to basically a country wide game of Hide 'n' Go Seek." Kiritsugu once again displayed no emotion at what he had learned of Michael and was silent for quite some time. Michael didn't dare to break the silence; it wasn't until they were halfway to Japan that Kiritsugu spoke again.

"Michael." Kiritsugu said with something finally resembling humanity.

"I would like to set up a deal with you." Michael felt his breath hitch at this but managed not to choke on his own spit.

"S-sure, what do you have in mind?" Kiritsugu looked hesitant for the briefest of moments before he replied.

"I'll help you lay low in Japan and maybe even help you contact the Edelfelt family if you promise on a Geis to help me in a retrieval mission I have coming up." Michael could feel the conflict of emotions rolling off Kiritsugu, this clearly was something near and dear to him but damn. A Geis? That is not something to sign carelessly.

 _'But I think this might be my way out of this mess. Well in for a penny, in for a pound as they say.'_ Michael extended his hand out towards Kiritsugu, they had a deal.

 _Meanwhile on Zelretch's path to Japan_

The ocean, a place of tranquillity and chaos at the same time if the sea wished it so, making it a rather fitting place for our resident Turkey_with a_ So no can hear him_ like a bucket of walnuts. Wait where did the descriptions go?

"I sent them to Disney Land." The old gentleman said while sitting on a beach chair with an umbrella providing him shade.

"That's more like it! Now if you'll excuse me, I've charged the turtle back up to full magical capacity." The tiny island Zelretch was perched on rose in the water, revealing it to actually be a rather large turtle.

The magical turtle then rocketed off towards Japan once more with Zelretch laughing like the mad bat he was.

"BY THE WAY! I HOPE YOU DON'T MIND IF I'M THE ONE TO ENACT THE THIRD 'What if'?" Zelretch yelled at the writer, and while I could very well stop you. I aim to make this into the biggest mess of super charged fighters as possible. So knock yourself out.

"THANK YOU!" Zelretch yelled to the writer once more as he and the magical turtle rode off into the distance.

 _Meanwhile in Fuyuki City_

Shirou felt a shiver run up his spine; last he checked he wasn't sick. That's not important now, focus back onto the main objective.

"Come on Shirou, I just want to make breakfast." Maiya said with a pleading sound.

"But I want to make breakfast more." Shirou said back with an astounding display of child logic.

"MAIYA-SAN! SHIROU-CHAN! I HAVE ARRIVED!" Maiya felt one of her eyebrows twitch in agitation as the situation spiraled further out of control.

 _'This day just isn't going to get better I see.'_ Maiya snarked in the safety of her mind, she could tell it wasn't going to be a quiet day.

 **A/N:**

 **Welcome to another chapter of The Sword and The Blacksmith.**

 **Thank you to the two mysterious guest reviewers who helped out with some magic rules I did not know beforehand. Seriously, I dived head first into the magic explanations of this universe and it is anything but forgiving. Worry not because I came up with some plot ideas that will let Shirou fight the good fight, no it does not involve EMYIA if that's what you were thinking. So what's next on the agenda?**

 **Well I flipped a coin and it landed on heads. Make of that what you will.**

 **So until next time ladies and gentlemen, I hope you have a lovely hot chocolate on hand with some biscuits or cookies to dunk with your drink. BYE BYE!**


	3. Chapter 3

-iii-

Michael felt a little out of his depth as he waited for the order of food to arrive at the table he and Kiritsugu were seated at. The place was smokey despite it being damn near empty and he couldn't even read the menu. Kiritsugu might have ordered some slight snack food but Michael wasn't sure what he'd said as Kiritsugu was speaking Japanese and didn't bother to translate.

 _'Ah wait, he probably thinks I can speak Japanese.'_ He'd have to clear that up as soon as Kiritsugu came back from the bathroom. With the tell-tale squeak of the public bathroom door, Kiritsugu sat back down at the table only looking much worse for wear than when he went in.

"Bloody hell what happened in there? You look like you got a bit too enthusiast at a blood donation van." Kiritsugu didn't answer and went back to what Michael assumed was an empty façade, except it lacked the same strength it'd had on the plane over.

"That's not important, what I need from you now Michael is information on what you can achieve as a blacksmith and if possible, as a combatant as well." Kiritsugu looked like he was gaining his strength back, albeit slowly, so Michael decided to go with his pace for now.

"Well if you were hoping for something modern like bullet proof vests and the like then sorry, that's a no go." Kiritsugu didn't react to this like Michael had expected, considering the guy sitting with him seemed to prefer guns for combat.

"Uh, if we're just dealing with the physically side of things then I can make the usual range of melee weapons and amour. My amour is also meant to be hidden by your clothes so don't expect it to block too much in way of heavy weapons." Michael started to get a bit nervous as that empty being from on the plane was now sitting with him again; it was still every bit as creepy as the first time.

"Ahem, right moving on." Michael was having a hard time keeping up his usual cheer.

"When it comes to magecraft however, that's where my work shines. I usually get requests for one of two builds of weaponry and amour I usual make. One allows for a mystic code to affect the whole set while the other has it so that different areas of the amour or weapon can have different mystic codes." That actually got an eyebrow raise from Kiritsugu.

 _'I don't know if he reacts like this to everyone else but I'll take what I can get with this guy.'_ Michael quickly thought to himself before continuing.

"Now of course how I achieve this has got to stay a secret, my finical position in _that world_ is shaky on the best of days." Kiritsugu finally spoke up at this point, much to Michael silent relief.

"Why is that? I thought you had the Edelfelt family as your top customers?" If Michael wasn't talking to the Magus Killer he would have snorted at this.

"Yeah well, that's what happens when you're a first generation magus like me, not a lot of trust in my work yet. It doesn't help that my top customers all like to haggle." Kiritsugu went back to his empty state and there was still no food to distract from this awkward atmosphere.

"What else? In a fight I'm okay I guess? I'm really good at melting things and setting stuff on fire." Michael finished somewhat lamely. Kiritsugu remained empty for the next minute, Michael almost breathed a sigh of relief when he went back to looking human.

"Alright I'll work that into my plans for the mission. Will you be able to set up the mystic codes on the amour and weaponry?" Kiritsugu said tiredly.

"No, sorry but I'm hopeless with the more complex side of magecraft. I can barely set up a decent bounded field." Michael could have sworn that as soon he finished talking Kiritsugu had hummed, it was too quiet to tell though.

"Would you mind owning the Edelfelts a favour for a bit?" Even though Kiritsugu's tone was polite, if a little tired. Michael felt an overwhelming sense of dread, mostly for his wallet.

"Depends I guess, what do you want them to help with?" Kiritsugu's lips to seemed to just fall short of a smirk.

"At the very least, try and get them to help out with embedding the mystic codes into the weapons and armor for the mission." Kiritsugu's voice now held something behind the polite tone, anticipation.

"That's ' _the very least_ '? That's a lot for ' _the very least_ '. What's the optimal outcome of me owning them a favor?" Michael asked despite it feeling like his wallet was losing funds by the second.

"The optimal outcome is that we have the Edelfelt family assist us on the mission." Kiritsugu finished in a satisfied tone, looking the most human Michael had seen him thus far. With Kiritsugu looking at what Michael assumed was his most relaxed state; he felt now was a good time as any to bring up an issue.

"So while we wait for what I hope is food, I should tell you right now I can't speak or read Japanese." The look Kiritsugu shot Michael would have made most poker player's blush.

"Why did you come to Japan then?" Michael decided to share his brilliant reasoning.

"One, The Assholes think I'm smarter than I actually am so they would assume I would go to a place where I can actually communicate and get in touch with the Edelfelts. Two, Japan is consider the outback of the mage world; even a runaway like myself is meant to consider coming here as a last resort. Three, the place just finished having the Holy Grail War actually explode on the participants. Conclusion? Only an idiot or a madman would come here, apparently I must one of the two." Michael finished in a wry tone.

"I'll help you with contacting the Edelfelt family then." Kiritsugu said with a polite tone, even if it did sound a smidge annoyed.

 _'I'm probably in the middle of a brewing shit storm but it should make for a good story if I survive this.'_ Any further thoughts Michael might have had were cut off when he saw a severing of chips coming towards their table.

" _Sorry for the wait, I hope you enjoy your meal._ " The Waitress said politely.

" _Thank you for the food._ " Kiritsugu replied back. Michael just nodded his head towards the waitress with a nervous smile. The waitress didn't seem offended as she nodded back before returning behind the bar.

"Yeah, we're going to have to start covering Japanese if I'm going to stay here for a while." Michael said with some exasperation. Kiritsugu didn't reply as he started eating his chips.

 _'Dick.'_ Michael thought as he had to start competing for his share of chips.

* * *

 _Meanwhile at the Emiya Estate_

Maiya breathed a sigh of relief, Shirou and Taiga had left to go to their respective schools which meant she finally had some quiet around the house.

 _'I still have to get some work around here done otherwise Shirou is going to do it all himself.'_ Maiya thought with both some concern and annoyance. Then with almost machine like efficiency, Maiya went about cleaning the house. From waxing the floors to mowing the lawn. Maiya was working through the mess left behind by Taiga's antics like twigs through a wood chipper.

She finished cleaning the whole house in a new record time for herself, with her time beginning at 8 AM sharp and finishing at 11: 30 on the dot. Three and half hours to clean a whole house, of course the house in question was about the same size of a small hotel.

 _'Well that's all the chores done. Now I just have to wait for Shirou to come back.'_ And so Maiya waited, and waited, and waited a bit more. It was when Maiya looked at the clock on the wall and saw only half an hour had pasted which caused her to learn of a new feeling called **_boredom._**

 _'Maybe there something else I can find to do around the house?'_ Maiya thought to herself hoping that maybe she missed something that needed cleaning. She hadn't, the house was spotless to the point where the floor could act as a perfect substitute for a mirror.

 _'Perhaps I can find something entertaining on television?'_ Maiya thought a bit more desperately this time.

As Maiya sat down and turned on the T.V. she realized she had no idea what she would like to watch. Due to Irisviel's rather playful personality Kiritsugu had installed a slightly illegal version of cable that provided channels from across the globe. With such a selection to choose from Maiya simply input a random channel and hoped it would entertain her.

 _"Oh Lance! I can't keep it a secret any longer! I'm not actually Janice! I'm really her twin sister Grace!"_ The character onscreen Maiya assumed was Lance gasped dramatically.

 _"That can't be! Just yesterday I received the blessing from your twin sister to marry you!"_ Maiya decided right then and there to shut off the T.V. Deciding she'd be better off not losing her sanity to such things.

 _'Maybe I should look into a hobby for when everyone's away from the house.'_ Maiya thought with a sigh. The silence over the Emiya estate was broken rather suddenly but, to Maiya's credit, she didn't even flinch with surprise from the phone ringing.

 _'At least this will pass some time.'_ Maiya thought with sarcasm that would have impressed even Rin Tohsaka.

"Maiya are you there?" Kiritsugu's tone of voice was the same one he used on missions with her, cluing her in to the flow of the conversation and practically sealing away her growing humanity.

"Yes I'm currently alone at the estate, are you calling for an update on the situation over here?" Maiya said as she switched from Japanese to English.

"Not on your end no, I've recently obtained an ally for the next mission but he doesn't speak or read Japanese. Before we can get him started on that, can you set up a communication circle in the shed?" Maiya did a quick count of the magical materials they had available in her head.

"Does your new ally have a gem to act as the transmitter?" Kiritsugu went silent at the question though Maiya could practically envision Kiritsugu turning his gaze to what must be his new ally.

"Yes he does, we'll be arriving back at the house in approximately thirty minutes. We'll talk more there." Maiya put the phone back on its holster as she knew Kiritsugu hung up the moment he had nothing else to say on the phone.

Maiya quickly went to her room and opened her closet, she pressed gently on the closet wall which opened up to reveal a small storage area. It held an array of jewels with some rather suspect looking objects alongside them. Quickly grabbing some of the jewels and a piece of chalk, Maiya headed towards the shed.

Once Maiya opened the shed door she briefly paused, remembering how she failed both Kiritsugu and Irisviel here. She was there along with Saber when Kirei attacked and took Irisviel, the damnable man had help from Berserker and Archer that night. As much as she wished otherwise, she acknowledges her luck that day as the enemy party had sent her flying into the house and knocked her unconscious. The scuffle had attracted Rider to the fight, forcing the battle further away from her unconscious body.

Shaking her head clear of such thoughts, Maiya quickly set up the communication circle with expert precision. When she exited the shed Maiya saw she had five minutes left until Kiritsugu arrived. Deciding that it wouldn't hurt to have a gun on hand just case Kiritsugu's new ally turned hostile last minute. With a gun holstered to her side Maiya felt like she had prepared as much as she could at the last second.

"Maiya! We're here." Kiritsugu said just loud enough for it to be heard but also sound soft.

"I'm waiting in the dining room." Kiritsugu didn't reply back but she could hear two sets of footsteps. When the two men walked into the room Maiya quickly examined the new ally in every way she could just from sight.

 _'Above average height compared to the Japanese populace by at least two to three inches, obviously a foreigner, hair colour looks to be dyed brown, unable to attain accurate information on body build and eye colour due to loose clothing attire with dark glasses.'_ Maiya stopped trying to analyze the man after that.

"Maiya, this is Michael Wingdom. Michael this is Maiya Hisau." Kiritsugu still wasn't using Japanese which was a bit unusual considering how he seemed to slip into it more often now that he was looking after Shirou.

"Um, it's nice to meet you?" Michael said in English, judging from the accent he might be Australian. Nodding in his direction as a quick attempt to be polite, she made a gesture for them to follow her.

"The communication circle is in the shed. Do what you need to do." Maiya said curtly, it earned her a little mumble from Michael but he was too quiet for her to hear what he said. The group made their way outside and into the shed, where Micheal pulled out a small gem stone from his pocket.

Once Michael stepped into the circle, Michael chanted a quick aria that caused the gems on the floor and the one in his hand to glow slightly.

"Thomas? Are you there Thomas?" Michael didn't get a response until a few seconds later.

"Mister Wingdom! Is that you?! Oh it's good to hear you're safe!" A slightly old but posh sounding voice came through the gem.

"Hey Sebastian, it's good to hear from you." Michael's entire being seemed to light up when he heard the old man's voice.

"We've been trying to contact you for two weeks straight. I'm guessing you ran into some trouble with the Aratus family?" Sebastian's voice held a great deal of worry in it.

"Like you wouldn't believe mate. Sorry but as much as I would love to chat with you some more Sebastian I do need to talk to Thomas." Michael body stature slumped noticeable at this.

"You might have to wait for a, Ah! Never mind you're in luck mister Wingdom. Master Thomas! Mister Wingdom is on the line." After some muffled sounds of movement on the other end of the gem a new voice was heard.

"Michael! You're safe! We thought you had been killed." The voice sounded distinctly upper class but had an air of good natured teasing to it as well.

"What and lose the chance to give you shit? Not even death is going to stop me from telling your daughter about the time you tripped over on a pebble and fell face first into cow crap." Michael was smiling broadly now.

"WHA! You! Argh, alright I'll concede you that one." Thomas finished with a big sigh.

"The blackmail I have on you at this point is absolutely shameful mate, I thought you were meant to be a nobleman or something." Michael was practically holding back his laughter by a hair thread at this point.

"You're giving an awful lot of sass to your top customer, you do realize?" Michael's grin didn't falter, if anything it grew even bigger.

"You mean like that time you accidentally sassed the Queen of the Clock Tower?" The spluttering sound that came from the other side of the gem was downright cartoonish with how over the top it was.

"Ugh, I'm not winning this verbal spar today it seems. Anyway how are you? What happened with the Aratus family?" Michael's grin finally dropped, Maiya then noticed that he had straightened his back and was standing to his full height.

"I'm not going to lie to you Thomas, I was almost killed by those assholes multiply times because you didn't think to warn me beforehand. I'm not here to give you the riot speech though. Knowing you, it's probably all you've been doing to yourself for awhile now." There was a pliable tension in the air now and Michael's face had slipped into a frown.

"Then what have you called me for Michael?" Thomas's voice now held a weight to it unlike before, not that of a leader but of an experienced fighter.

"While escaping from The Assholes, I ran into another mage. I'm sure you've heard of him considering your line of work." Michael's voice held a bit of cheekiness in it despite the serious topic.

"Don't play around Michael, get to the point." Thomas said impatiently.

"Kiritsugu Emiya." The other line was dead silent for a good minute or so.

"That was about my reaction when I met him on the plane. So there I am, resigning myself to death when Kiritsugu offers me a deal." Despite Michael's wording sounding playful, his voice had dropped an octave or two down as he continued to explain his situation.

"On a geis I am to assist in his next retrieval mission to the best of my abilities and I'll get his help laying low for a bit. The thing is, Kiritsugu figures we need a bit more man power than what we have now to actually complete the mission." Michael was smiling again but it wasn't pleasant or teasing like before. In fact it looked rather malicious right now.

"I want to call in a favor Thomas, will you help out with this?" The gem was quiet for a brief period.

"What will I get in return for helping out the infamous Magus Killer?" Maiya noted the way Michael's eye diluted at this.

"I'm willing to give you a seventy five percent discount on your next ten purchases of weapons and amour." Maiya raised an eyebrow at this but didn't interrupt.

"Fifteen and you'll have my full assistance in this mission." Michael let out a huge sigh of relief at this.

"You have a deal mate. I'm telling ya, you are just a life saver." Michael's smile was now back to that slightly teasing one from before.

"Yes, yes, I know. Quit the act so we can continue with business." Thomas sounded like he had said that line just a few times too many for his liking.

"Alright I got it. Would you like to speak with the Magus Killer himself? He is the brains of this operation." The question might as well have been rhetorical with how quick the response was.

"Yes that would be the best course of action now." A quick exchange of positions later and it was Kiritsugu in his empty state that stepped into the conversation.

"Thomas Richard Edelfelt. I've heard quite a few stories of your exploits on the field so I won't ask about your capabilities for now but, I'll let you know the basics of the mission so far. The location of the mission is in a remote location in Germany." Before Kiritsugu could continue Thomas cut in rather unexpectedly.

"Wait! Germany? Don't tell me you're planning on taking on the Einzbern family?!" Kiritsugu remained impassive despite Thomas's outburst.

"Yes they have something very important to me there." Maiya turned to look at Michael to gauge his reaction; his face had turned an impressive shade of white.

"From the tales I've heard of you Kiritsugu Emiya, I'm going to assume you want to take on the Einzbern's central base of operations." Thomas's voice started to sound more calculating, most likely trying figure out some plans for the future once the mission was done.

"That is correct. The mission will take place two weeks from now but we should rondevu at our current location in Japan." Thomas let out a very annoyed sigh at the mention of Japan.

"Very well, I shall take the next flight over as soon as I've organized some equipment on my end. Will you be giving me the address of our rondevu or will you be waiting for me at the airport." It was clear at this point that Thomas's mind was only half focused on the conversation.

"We'll pick you up from the Fuyuki airport." The conversation seemed to be coming to an end.

"Very well, I shall meet you there in roughly thirteen hours from now." The minor glow from the communication circle had stopped.

"Alright, Maiya can you go set up a geis for Michael? We're almost done for today." Maiya gave Kiritsugu a brief nod before leaving the shed.

 _'What a mess this is turning out to be.'_ Maiya couldn't help but think to herself as she entered the house. It was then that she saw the time; it was two fifty five in the afternoon. As in five minutes until Shirou's school finished and he started to come home.

Maiya started running to her room now with certain thoughts running through her head.

 _'I didn't prepare dinner! Now Shirou isn't going to let me cook my own meals for the next few NO NO NO! Focus on the task!'_ The sealed humanity in Maiya broke free once more, and it was all thanks to food.

* * *

 _On an abandoned Japanese beach_

The afternoon sun was reflecting off the water, with light shimmering onto the beach it painted a tranquil scene. Or it would have if there weren't a large turtle and an oddly dressed gentleman having an argument there as well.

"Look I'm not saying that you could have outswam that water spout but I do think if you had just been willing to let me use some more of my magic on you, we wouldn't have run into that storm in the first place." Zelretch argued with the large turtle in a conversational tone.

The large reptile shot him an accusing look that caused the mad bat to look slightly guilty.

"Look I know you said you don't want rocket fins but I think if you just gave them a try." Zelretch's pleading was met with an even more intense accusing look.

"Rocket fins would have gotten us out of the water spout! We could have gotten here in half the time too!" The turtle responded to this with a surprising display of dexterity by jumping on top of Zelretch.

"ACK! I GET IT! NO ROCKET FINS! NO ROCKET FINS!" The turtle let a bit more weight press onto Zelretch causing a cracking sound to come from the old gentleman's back.

"ARGH! MY BACK! OKAY I PROMISE I WON'T TRY AND TRICK YOU INTO GETTING ROCKET FINS!" This seemed to please the turtle as it got off Zelretch and started to head back to the ocean.

"You're lucky I need you for traveling incognito." Zelretch muttered to himself but the turtle somehow heard it anyway and sent the old gentleman a smug look.

"Get going before I change my mind you damn turtle." Zelretch said to the turtle complete with shooing motions, his voice didn't match his actions however as it held a certain softness in it. The turtle gave Zelretch a happy nod, with all the pleasantries done the magical turtle shot off into the sunset.

"Alright, time to pay Fuyuki city a visit. I just need to ring up the Edelfelt family so I can borrow." Zelretch paused in his musings as he remembered something half way.

"Wait a minute! I created those gifts! I can just send a message to both of them and." Zelretch paused once again in his musings.

"No, no, no. I can message one to come my way but the other is a problem child, she'll come but not without attracting too much attention. In fact she may even arrive late just to spite me." Zelretch than gave a non-committal shrug and started making his way off the beach.

"I'll message the good child to come to my location. If the location just so happens to be where her sister is located. Than my plan will have succeeded wonderfully" Zelretch finished his train of thought and made his way into Japan.

Coincidentally in a town miles away from the beach, a man found his toaster had turned into a popcorn machine.

"Ah hah! I found the nearest town! I do hope that nice young man will enjoy my gift." Except it totally wasn't a coincidence and the man had just gotten braces that day.

* * *

 _Meanwhile with Shirou_

Shirou suppressed another shiver that rolled down his spine. Maybe he had caught a cold but just hadn't noticed yet?

 _'No, the meals me and Maiya make should have fought off any common cold.'_ Shirou thought to himself as he walked home. The boy continued home with a thoughtful expression on his face and mostly ignored the world around him.

This might explain why he didn't notice his father's shoes when he walked into the house. Shirou only really snapped out of his day dream when he yelled the traditional.

"I'm home!" expecting only to hear Maiya yell back, he yelped in shock when he heard.

"Welcome back Shirou." From his father instead. Quickly getting over his shock Shirou raced into the dining room.

"Welcome back Dad!" Shirou's joy was then replaced by confusion. Sitting next to his father was a man in a gaudy Hawaiian button shirt while also wearing dark sunglasses. Shady didn't even begin to describe him.

"Shirou I would like you to meet a friend of mine from overseas, Michael Wingdom. Michael this is Shirou." Michael looked at Kiritsugu with a confused expression.

"Ah right I forgot, my friend here doesn't speak Japanese yet." Kiritsugu said with a chuckle, he than translated the conversation so far to Michael. When Kiritsugu finished, the foreign man suddenly started to smile and he began talking to Kiritsugu in English.

"He said it's a pleasure to meet you Shirou." Kiritsugu was smiling softly as well now. Feeling a bit put on the spot Shirou fumbled a bit with his next sentence.

"A-ah it's a pleasure to meet you Wingdom-san. Where are you from?" Shirou noticed that when he finished talking, the man's smile had turn into a teasing sort he saw on Fuji-nee sometimes. Kiritsugu quickly translated what Shirou had said, having been deemed to be the table's translator it seemed.

"He said he's from Australia and asked if there was anything else you'd like to ask?" Kiritsugu appeared to be amused at Shirou's flustered state as well.

"U-um no I think I-I'm good for now. I'll just go make dinner." Shirou said in a hurry so he could be out of the spot light.

"I'll help out with that Shirou, you must tired from school after all." Maiya said with that hollow caring tone.

"O-okay." Usually Shirou would argue to cook by himself but Michael's new presence made him feel rather nervous. Once dinner was made the night seemed to just fly as Shirou tried to take up all of Kiritsugu's attention but, every now and then he could spot Michael looking nervously at his dad. He could tell from the man eyebrows as they seemed to act almost like dog ears in conveying emotion.

Now if Shirou were older he might have caught on to the cautious looks Maiya was sending the man. He might have picked up on Kiritsugu's almost impatiently fiddling with his chop sticks when he thought Shirou wasn't looking.

Shirou was still just a seven year old child though. So without his consent, Shirou let out a yawn which caught everyone's attention.

"Alright it's getting late Shirou, time to go to bed." Maiya said with the same hallow care as before but it started to sound a bit different to Shirou. With his thoughts starting to get cloudy, Shirou nodded tiredly and let Maiya pick him up and carry him off to bed.

Before Shirou was taken out of the Dining room though he could have sworn he saw his father with the saddest eyes he ever seen.

Strange what children see, isn't it?

 **A/N:**

 **Welcome back to another chapter of The Sword and The Blacksmith.**

 **Sorry for the entire non-action plot this chapter but thankful it's all out the way now! So what's next you might ask? Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you next chapter. Kiritsugu's last dance.**

 **That's right, after this fight Kiritsugu will no longer have any place in future battles. Before I go though, I would like to ask your opinion on two things.**

 **First, how am I doing with the characterization? Are they consistent within this story? I'm not asking if they're acting like they would in cannon because let's face it, I've not only ditched cannon at this point but I've sold it to willy wonka for the grand sum of zero dollars.**

 **Second, which colour would you prefer on Shirou? Red or Blue? Don't mind the reason for me asking this one just give me your answer, I SAID DON'T MIND THE REASON!**

 **Until next time ladies and gentlemen, I hope you have a lovely hot chocolate on hand with some biscuits or cookies to dunk with your drink. BYE BYE.**


	4. Chapter 4

Kiritsugu had been on many missions in his life, up until now they had all been in the pursuit of an ideal. An ideal that seemed so childish and naïve so why? Why was it that same ideal lead to so much bloodshed and heartache. To be a hero and save as many people as he could, such a simple ideal shouldn't be this destructive.

Kiritsugu briefly came out of his thoughts to look at the two men sitting with him in the back of a cargo truck. It seemed that they were deep in thought as well. Kiritsugu couldn't help but think about how contrasting this situation was compared to just a few months ago.

If he had still been following his ideals then these two men would most certainly have a bullet in their skulls the moment it was going to help Kiritsugu save more lives.

 _'Although it would be wise to think of a few more back-up plans if those two double cross me when this mission is over.'_ Some old habits are just a bit harder to kick then others it seemed. Kiritsugu cleared his mind once more and started to count the amount of ammunition they had on hand.

 _'I have twenty four bullets for the six-revolver, three clips for the Calico M950, ten bullets for the Thompson Contender, two lethal grenades, and two stun grenades. Thomas has thirty gems with explosive properties and thirty for wind based thaumaturgy. Michael is going to be using mainly melee style combat and basic fire thaumaturgy as diversion tactics. Lastly, all of us have a combat knife and body amour with an electricity based mystic code embedded in it along with thirty claymores in carry bag as a last resort trap if fighting spills out to the forest.'_ Kiritsugu felt his gut churn, as for the first time in so long he felt nervous. He had been weary and maybe even fearful of Kirei Kotomine during the Holy Grail War but it didn't hinder his thought process, unlike now where his nerves were starting to cause his thoughts to become a bit muddled.

The constant hum of the truck's engine suddenly started to fade, letting the men in the truck know that it was almost time for the mission to really begin. Only a few seconds after the truck stopped did a man open the storage space.

 _"Alright, that's as close as I'm getting you three to the Einzberns. I'll be back in an hour and a half but, if you aren't there than I'm as good as gone as well."_ The man said in a stoic tone, only his obvious checks of the surrounding area gave away his nervousness.

 _"We'll be there but just be ready to drive in case we bring back hostiles."_ Kiritsugu heard the man swear under his breath at that. When all three men were out of the truck the man gave Thomas some parting words.

 _"Edelfelt, do me a favour and never ask me to do something like this again."_ This just got a chuckle out of Thomas but he did nod afterwards. The truck driver quickly closed the storage doors and hopped back into the driver's seat and took off.

"Alright Kiritsugu, lead the way before my woolly jumper freezes as well." Michael said with false bravado, Kiritsugu didn't blame him if he felt afraid but he had prepared fairly well as his set of cloths were made for camouflaging in the snow.

"Right this way and try to stay close to me as snowstorms can form rapidly without warning here." Kiritsugu started to slip back into the mindset of the Magus Killer, visualizing some of the initial encounters they could have at Einzbern Castle.

The trek through the snow was mostly quiet so Kiritsugu could focus on sensing where the Einzbern's bounded field was. Because if they couldn't find the bounded field then Einzbern Castle would be impossible to reach. After a few minutes of searching Kiritsugu felt something familiar, it was what they were looking for.

"Over here! The bounded field is this way." Thomas and Michael quickly followed Kiritsugu. When they arrived at the field Thomas briefly paused as he took in the complexity of it all.

"So this is the Einzbern's power? I must admit Kiritsugu, if you hadn't given me some of the Einzbern family's security details then I would be here for a while if I were trying to break the bounded field in a stealthy fashion." Thomas said this as moved closer towards the invisible barrier.

"Thomas I swear if you start to boast about how easy this will be. I will slap you upside the head with my hammer." Michael said with a disinterested tone, as if he were talking to a child that just didn't quite learn its lesson from previous mischief.

"Very well but breaking the bounded field in stealthy fashion is almost pathetically easy now." Thomas didn't need to look over his shoulder to know Michael was pinching his nose in frustration.

"Save the back and forth for after the mission." Kiritsugu's voice cut through the air, sounding colder than the snow surrounding them. Both men went quiet and got to work. Thomas knelled down in front of the bounded field and quickly said an aria that seemed to have no visible effect on anything. Until Thomas thrust his hands forward like a knife, causing the once invisible field to ripple like water. Thomas then stood up and created an opening that resembled a somewhat wonky triangle.

Kiritsugu and Michael quickly ducked into the field while Thomas carefully swapped what side of the opening he was one. Once all three men were inside the field Thomas took his hands out of the bounded field, causing another set of ripples to shimmer through the air.

"Now that we're closer to the enemy strong hold, I have some information you need to know so the mission even has a chance of success." This caused Michael to raise an eyebrow.

"So we finally get to know what we're retrieving." Kiritsugu just nodded in reply.

"Our retrieval goal is my daughter, Illyasviel von Einzbern." Michael's jaw dropped while Thomas went wide eyed.

"She is an eight year old girl with long white hair and bright red eyes. If you find her and I'm not with you then tell her ' _Your father, Kiritsugu Emiya, has kept his promise._ ' That will hopefully convince her to come with you." Kiritsugu finished and saw that Thomas was the first to regain his composure.

"Very well, just in case that doesn't work right away. Could you tell us what the promise you made to her was?" Thomas asked politely.

"I promised her." Kiritsugu's thoughts briefly went back to better times when Irisviel was still alive and they were a real family.

"I promised Illya that I would come back to her and I asked her to wait here patiently." Kiritsugu briefly slipped out of his Magus Killer persona before focusing back onto the mission at hand.

"That should be enough about Illyasviel for now. If during the mission I should bring out this gun." Kiritsugu pulled the Thompson Contender out of its holster so both men knew what it looked like.

"Then I need you to concentrate as much destructive magecraft at whatever I'm aiming at. Lastly, if I use this pill then I'll need you two to make sure I don't collapse during a fight." Michael gave the pill dubious look but nodded anyway.

"Okay so now we just have to find the castle, are there any landmarks around here? Something that says ' _HEY YOU'RE GOING THE RIGHT WAY!_ ' or would that be too convenient?" Michael asked in an attempt to keep the mood light.

"Yes, you'll see it soon enough." Kiritsugu replied without a trace of humour in his voice.

"Oh, cool." Michael sounded pleasantly surprised by this, the trio then continued to trek through the snow. Until they arrived at what Kiritsugu called a land mark.

"Wow." Were the first words out Michael's mouth, Thomas just gave an impressed whistle. The landmark was actually just the castle but the sheer size of it was mind boggling.

"Okay so we've found the castle, now what? Do we just knock on the front door?" Kiritsugu shook his head and opened up his rather large traveling bag.

"We'll set up clay-mores around the forest first. If we get pushed out here for combat then the Einzbern homunculi will have the upper hand in move-ability and durability. The more likely use for the clay-mores however is when we escape with Illyasviel. We'll most likely have hostiles trailing us." When Kiritsugu finished Thomas gave an affirmative nod but Michael just let out a sigh.

"This is why I don't like helping you out on combat mission Thomas. Too much of this stuff goes over my head." Michael whined causing Thomas to grin mockingly.

"Oh so you admit your inferior intellect. I'd be happy to instruct you on how to use that brain of yours if you just accepted my standing offer of becoming the Edelfelt blacksmith." This caused Michael to let out a bark of laughter.

"Fat chance, I'm winning that bet we made. I just have to last two more years as an independent then I win the pot." Any more bickering between the two men was cut off by Kiritsugu's rather damning stare.

"Focus." Both men just nodded at Kiritsugu as he began instructing them on where to place the claymores. It was a surprisingly quick affair as not even two minutes had passed when the death trap was completed.

"That was the last one Kiritsugu. Now where are we going to enter the castle?" Thomas inquired with a rather savage look in his eyes.

"Unfortunately the only entrance is the front door." Michael and Thomas winced at this.

"Stealth isn't an option huh? Joy." Michael said in a flat tone.

"Do you know where they might be holding your daughter?" Thomas's question caused Kiritsugu to pause for thought.

"She had a play room in the west wing of the castle on the fourth floor, they might have turned it into a lab to continue modifying her and maybe break her spirit." Thomas didn't react to this information visibly but Michael gave Kiritsugu an inquisitive look. Kiritsugu didn't bother to acknowledge it.

"So who is going to be the one to break down the door?" Kiritsugu asked as he started to walk towards Einzbern castle.

"I'll do it, you guys save your ammo for when things get really messy." Michael strode past Kiritsugu with the snow around his feet starting to sizzle. Kiritsugu watched Michael as he began running towards the door, curiously the snow around Michael started to melt. Kiritsugu found out why this was happening when Michael turned into a high speed fire ball with a hammer.

Just before Michael slammed into the door, all the flames on him concentrated into his hammer. The resounding crash that rang through the area when Michael's hammer met the door was impressive to say the least.

"The game is now afoot Kiritsugu! Let us hurry to your daughter before our luck runs out." Thomas said just before he ran to Michael's side to help him up. Kiritsugu pulled out the Calico and ran into the castle entrance.

"Follow me and don't get left behind." Both men nodded at the order and followed after Kiritsugu. The castle wasn't silent for much longer as they reached the first set of stairs, four homunculi appeared as they were racing down to combat the intruders but where caught off guard by the appearance of Kiritsugu. Seeing the brief pause in their movement Kiritsugu attacked first with the Calico managing to kill one while tagging the other three in their shoulders and on their arms. Thomas followed up the attack by pulling out his combat knife from inside his jacket and cutting the throats of two while the last one was dispatched by Michael, his hammer knocking the head off the living doll.

"They know we're here now, we won't have the element of surprise like that again!" Kiritsugu yelled to Michael and Thomas as he raced up the stairs. True to his claim, as they reached the second floor of the castle Kiritsugu ducked as he spotted a halberd coming for his head. The assault quickly continued as Kiritsugu was forced to backpedal down the hall just to avoid being cut or stabbed. Michael arrived up the stairs and saw Kiritsugu was quickly losing ground. He raced towards the homunculus with his hammer draw back ready to strike.

Let it be known that marble floors don't do wonders for sneak attacks as the homunculus heard his footsteps and spun around at the last second, striking his shoulder. Instead of seeing blood like it expected, the homunculus sudden found itself being electrocuted. A few more seconds passed until a charred corpus collapsed to the floor.

Michael grunted as he pulled the halberd out of his shoulder, with his torn cloths revealing the amour bellow.

"Welp, there goes my shoulder pad." Michael said to himself as Kiritsugu ran past him and towards the stairs. Thomas arrived on the floor just as Kiritsugu started climbing the next set of stairs.

 _'He's a lot quicker than I thought.'_ Thomas thought to himself as he and Michael just caught up to Kiritsugu again. The trio found their next encounter on the stairway to the third floor with six homunculi greeting them.

Michael was quickly thrown off balance when two of the homunculi wielding swords ran towards him and struck his hammer mid-swing when he tried to attack, causing him to loss footing and stumble down a few steps before he regained his balance.

"They've got the high ground!" Michael called to his comrades as he dodged an incoming sword thrust from one of his attackers.

"We noticed!" Thomas shouted as he ducked under the axe of one of his own attackers. He then dispatch said homunculi by stabbing the combat knife into its thigh and dodging at the last second when it's partner swung at him from behind with a matching axe, cutting off its partner's head.

The fight was cut short by Kiritsugu however, who in the middle of dodging saw that the homunculi were in one straight line.

 _'I'll loss the arm guard in the process but it'll end the fight quickly.'_ Kiritsugu aimed the Calico and as expect, one of the homunculi swung down its halberd onto his arm, expecting to cut it clean off. Only to have a burst of electricity ran up its halberd and into its body. The spray of bullets that follow silenced the area.

"That… Was… Too close." Michael said between breaths. Kiritsugu started his run again causing Michael to grumble something under his breath.

"Kiritsugu! We can't be caught in an area like that again! If we do then you'll have to forgive me for not saving my gems for later." Thomas finished with his agitation made apparent, Kiritsugu only nodded as he rushed from the third floor up to the next set of stairs.

It should be noted that in all the Holy Grail Wars the Einzberns participated in, they have a hilarious tendency to ensure their own defeat in some form or another. This also extended to their current plans for the next Holy Grail War, in form of two homunculi made for the sole purpose of protecting Illyasviel.

"You'll not harm Lady Illyasviel!" Kiritsugu paused in his sprint when he heard the familiar voice.

"It can't be." Kiritsugu whispered to himself, failing to notice Michael and Thomas had just caught up to him.

"Huff… Huff… You sure… he isn't using reinforcement?" Michael wheezed out as he held onto the stair railings to catch his breath.

"Yes I'm sure." Thomas said looking only slightly less winded than Michael. Kiritsugu regained his composure when heard the back forth from his current allies. The trio started their run once more and were greeted with the sight of two slightly wounded homunculi fending of a rather large group of their own kind.

"What in the world?" Michael mumbled under his breath.

"The two defending the door, their names are Sella and Leysritt. We've just found some reinforcements." Kiritsugu said in an emotionless voice, after finding his Calico was out of ammunition Kiritsugu pulled out the Six-revolver.

With the precision of a cowboy from a Wild West movie, Kiritsugu fired six shots and killed six homunculi. The large crowd surrounding Sella and Leysritt paused in their assault on the two to find out what just happened.

"I believe I'm starting to see why the 'Magus Killer' was so deadly now." Thomas said with an evident amount of awe in his voice, the pause in combat did not last however as the large group split in half to deal with both Kiritsugu's group and the traitorous homunculi.

"Kiritsugu, Michael, if you'd be so kind to move out of the way." Thomas didn't bother to hide his agitation as he spoke; the two men did as he asked. With some sleight of hand, Thomas let two gems fall into each of his palms. Upon seeing this Michael broke into a small sweat and started to back away even further from Thomas, Kiritsugu followed suit when saw Michael's reaction.

The air around Thomas seemed to spin as he gathered Prana into his gems.

"Your end is now!" Thomas yelled at the incoming horde. With a flick of his wrist Thomas launched the first gem.

 ** _BOOM!_** This was followed by another gem.

 ** _BOOM!_** Two more gems followed soon after.

 ** _BOOM! BOOM!_** The now smouldering hallway was cleared of the charging force.

"Impressive." Kiritsugu said without emotion, causing Thomas to look back at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You don't sound impressed." Thomas replied dryly.

"I think this is the most you're going to get out of him at the moment." Michael said with a disinterested voice as he walked over to look at the blast zone.

"You just wanted to show off after Kiritsugu killed the ones on the staircase didn't you?" Michael said as though it was more a statement then a question.

"He interrupted my fight and they were going to overrun us. I don't see a problem here." Thomas said haughtily.

"That's because you made the problem explode." Michael pointed out with an amused smile on his face.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Thomas replied with a smug look on his face. The conversation was cut off by the sounds of weapons clashing, drawing the trio's attention again was the two Homunculi parrying an onslaught of weapons. Thomas gave Michael a smug look, as if daring him to top his explosive act from before. Michael let out a resigned sigh at this but readied his hammer.

"Ignite" Michael's body seemed to glow bright red as if in compliance with the word. Then like before when he charged the door, all the heat and energy flowed into his hammer.

"FLOW!" As Michael swung the hammer, a stream of fire flew out and flied towards its targets. The moment the stream hit the enemy Homunculi was the moment screams of agony filled the hall. Michael wasn't done however as he charged towards his now alight enemies and slammed them into each other, sending them flying down the hall.

"Alright let's see how much time that buys us." Michael wondered out loud.

" _Thank you for the assistance stranger._ " Sella said to Michael, she even curtsied to him. Shame she was speaking German.

"Uh…" Was Michael's charming response to Sella's gratitude.

" _Sella, Leysritt._ " The two Homunculi turned to look at Kiritsugu. Sella started to glare at the man while Leysritt's expression remained deadpan.

" _Well, if it isn't Kiritsugu Emiya. You're late._ " Sella said sternly.

" _You made Lady Illyasviel sad._ " Leysritt said in a flat voice.

" _I'm sorry I took so long but, I'm here to take Illya home with me._ " Kiritsugu maintained his emotionless demeanor.

" _About time, we were starting to wonder if you had abandoned the Lady._ " Sella's words felt like a slap across the face to Kiritsugu.

" _Never, I would never do that to Illya._ " Kiritsugu said with resolve filling his once empty voice.

"Michael, Thomas. Help Sella and Leysritt guard the hall, I need to let Illya know we're leaving." Kiritsugu said with his voice slipping back into its empty state once more.

"Got it." Michael replied while Thomas nodded his head in agreement.

* * *

 _With Illya_

It was another day and her daddy had yet to come home but she knew today was the day he would! He promised her he would come back.

" **Foolish child, he was lying. He'll never come back for you.** " The black sludge was using Mummy's form again but it's not real. Mummy would never say such mean things about daddy.

" **Don't you believe me? You're Grandfather himself told you what Kiritsugu did.** " He had to be lying then. Daddy would never hurt Mummy, ever.

" **Oh but how can you prove he didn't?** " Stop.

" **He killed her.** " Stop.

" **He never cared for you at all. You were just another tool to him.** " STOP!

"Illya." That voice.

" **It's a lie, don't turn around.** " The black sludge sounded nervous, it never sounds nervous.

"Illya it's me." Daddy? He really came back?

" **No! DO NOT TURN AROUND!** " The sludge had never gotten angry before, what's happening?

"Get your hands off my DAUGHTER!" Two loud bangs enveloped the room.

" **You… How?** " The sludge sounded hurt, than her daddy really is here?

" **No…** " He's here!

" **Don't…** " He's here! Daddy came back!

" **KIRITSUGU!** " Another loud bang went off, silencing the black sludge.

"Daddy! You're back!" Kiritsugu swept Illya into his arms and hugged her. Illya noticed after a while that her daddy was crying.

"Daddy? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Kiritsugu shook his head.

"No, I'm just so happy to have you back Illya." Kiritsugu said as his tears fell freely.

"You kept your promise, like I knew you would." Illya rested her head onto Kiritsugu's shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess I did." Kiritsugu and Illya's reunion was interrupted by a rather large tremor.

"What was that?" Illya looked at her father with worry.

"That would be the people who are going to help me get you home." Kiritsugu explained softly.

"Isn't this place meant to home?" Illya asked, tilting her head slightly as she did so.

"No, the people here." Kiritsugu paused for a moment, thinking of a way to explain it all to Illya.

"The people here want to turn you into something you're not Illya. So we're going to ran away from them and even if they should find us again. I promise that they won't be able to take you away from your real family." Kiritsugu's sounded so sure of what he just said, that Illya missed the look of sadness that flashed in his eyes.

"Now are you ready to go Illya?" Kiritsugu shifted Illya onto his back, preparing for the dangers that lay outside the room.

"Yeah, let's go home."

* * *

 _Back outside the room_

"That was a pretty big boom. How many of those exploding gems you got left Thomas?" Michael said in conversational tone even though he was still in a battle ready stance.

"I used ten gems for that explosion, so I have sixteen left." Thomas replied sounding just as relaxed but like Michael, looked to be on a hair trigger for using explosives.

"Better make them count then because I can hear some more running towards us." The door behind the four opened, reviling Kiritsugu with Illya held up on his back.

" _Sella, can you carry Illya?_ " Kiritsugu asked even though he knew how Sella would answer.

" _Of course._ " Sella grabbed Illya from Kiritsugu's back and held her bridal style.

"Time to go?" Michael asked with some anticipation.

"Yes, let's go!" Kiritsugu swapped the Six-revolver for the Calico and immediate reloaded the weapon.

 _'The Calico only has one clip left and the revolver is down to fifteen bullets, not good.'_ Kiritsugu then spotted the next wave of homunculi racing towards them from down the hall.

 _'We'll run out of ammunition before Jubstacheit runs out of soldiers.'_ Kiritsugu started running towards the staircase leading to downstairs.

"From this point on, only take out any hostiles that will get in the way of us escaping!" Kiritsugu then repeated the orders in German for Sella and Leysritt. As they were halfway down the staircase, a group of twelve homunculi ran up towards them, each wielding a sword, an axe, or a halberd.

"LIVING FIREBALL! COMING THROUGH!" Shame Michael threw himself at them and knocked the group down the stairs, one did get lucky though and managed to stab it's sword into Michael's shoulder.

"ARGH!" The protected shoulder that still had a working mystic code on it, Michael stumbled up from the pile of living dolls and slurred out.

"Hurry up! I don't want to do that again!" Michael shook the cobwebs out of his head as the rest of his group caught up to him and then ran past him.

"Now that's just rude!" Michael yelled as he ran after them.

As they arrived on the second floor, a large amount of homunculi laid in wait, ready to block their path.

"I'm going to use the rest of my explosives on this one!" Thomas ran ahead of the group, what happened next could be best described as the world's biggest and deadliest fire cracker, what with how fast the explosions followed each other.

 ** _BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!_**

The blast threw everyone back a good few feet with Thomas taking (and Tanking) the brunt of the explosions. His body amour's mystic codes were all shorted out because of the blast and his right arm looked to be dislocated at the shoulder.

"Thank the root for reinforcement." Thomas groaned as he tried get up from the floor. He soon found himself be supported by Leysritt.

" _Thank you for the assistance._ " Thomas said as Leysritt held him up by his left side.

 _"You are welcome._ " Leysritt said in what Thomas guessed was the only tone of voice she knew how to use.

"Thomas, are you alright mate?!" Michael was the next to arrive.

"I think you know the answer to that question Michael." Michael made an annoyed grunt at the sass but he didn't hide the relieved smile on his face. Kiritsugu and Sella arrived next and the group made their way to the first floor. They were greeted with a sight Kiritsugu really didn't want to see.

"Oh no." Kiritsugu couldn't help but mutter at the monster that stood between them and the exit.

" _Kiritsugu Emiya. How dare you come back here after what you did to us._ " Jubstacheit growled out.

" _Still I suppose it's only natural for a fool such as yourself to try and do the impossible._ " Jubstacheit continued to monologue but Kiritsugu stopped paying him attention and reached in his long coat and grabbed the pill from before.

* * *

 _"Kiritsugu." Miya had a strained look on her face, she had just finished doing a quick medical check-up on the three men before they went over to Germany to get Illya back._

 _"You're not going to like this, while Michael and Thomas are fine, you are deteriorating a lot faster than we first thought. In fact I would say after a few more weeks or so. You'll begin to lose your ability to perform magecraft. If you had put this mission off any longer, then you would have had no chance at retrieving lady Illyasviel." Kiritsugu didn't say anything but his silence said enough._

 _"You only have one shot at getting her back Kiritsugu. So I've prepared this for you." Miya pulled out a small vial that held a pill in it._

 _"This pill when consumed will shut off all your body's inhibitors. You'll be able to keep pushing yourself to perform feats like time alter square excel repeatedly but, it has a rather large backlash. This pill can only keep the inhibitors in your body off for so long, I'd estimated roughly five minutes if you're lucky, three minutes if you're not." As Kiritsugu grabbed the vial and let Miya finish her explanation of the pill._

 _"Once this time is up your body will shut down in an effort to save itself. Considering the rate your body is losing strength though, I recommend not using it at all but it may be an effective last resort."_

* * *

' _Sorry Miya but this is for Illya's sake._ ' Kiritsugu quickly took the pill out and swallowed it as fast he could.

" _Oh? What was that you consumed?_ " Jubstacheit inquired with a raised eyebrow.

" ** _Time Alter: Triple Excel!_** " Was Kiritsugu's response, rushing forwards at speeds that would even surprise a Heroic Spirit. Kiritsugu circled around Jubstacheit and opened fire with the Calico.

" _NICE TRY!_ " Jubstacheit yelled as he matched Kiritsugu's speed and dodge out of the bullets way.

"Tsk." Kiritsugu closed the distance and tried to fire at close range. Jubstacheit merely laughed as his speed increased and he began to dance between the bullets.

"Damn it." Kiritsugu growled as he tossed aside the Calico and pulled out the combat knife he had yet to use.

" ** _Time alter: Square Excel!_** " Kiritsugu matched Jubstacheit's speed and began to slash furiously at the golem. Aside from some cuts on his robe, Jubstacheit had yet to take a single hit.

" ** _Ventus VULNUS!_** " That was until Thomas interfered, Jubstacheit was in middle of jumping backwards as a gem flew through the air, striking Jubstacheit's left arm and causing the golem to briefly pause from the pain. Seeing his opening, Kiritsugu rushed in and stabbed the golem in the right lower thigh.

"ARGH!" The not man roared, Kiritsugu went to activate the mystic code only for Jubstacheit to knock him away with surprising force.

" _How… HOW?! I'VE ACCESS TO UNLIMITED ENERGY HERE! YOU FILTHY VERMIN SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO TOUCH ME!_ " Jubstacheit roared at Kiritsugu's group.

"I have no idea what you're saying but SHUT UP!" Michael was the next to interfere as he rushed towards the screaming golem, his hammer at the ready. Jubstacheit tried to dodge away like he did with Kiritsugu, only to freeze at the immense pain from trying to do so.

"TAG! YOUR IT!" Michael's struck Jubstacheit on his right shoulder, sending him spinning towards the other side of the room.

" _Allow me!_ " Leysritt yelled as she left Thomas's side and charged Jubstacheit, wielding her halberd like a spear. The old not man still had some fight left in him however, as Leysritt went to stab the golem. He used his right hand to grab the halberd by the tip of its point and threw Leysritt into a nearby wall as he landed.

"Everyone! Force him to defend with everything he's got!"Kiritsugu's words caused everyone to look his way. Kiritsugu had taken out the Thompson Contender.

"Got it!" Michael replied before his body started to glow red with heat once more, he charged towards Jubstachiet with his hammer ready to strike.

" _Don't get cocky!_ " The golem yelled as his right fist met Michael's hammer. sending Michael sliding back some distance.

" _Practice what you preach abomination!_ " Thomas yelled as he launched three more wind based gems at Jubstachiet. Two struck one of his kidneys while the last one just grazed his left wrist.

" _YOU!_ " Jubstachiet didn't even have time to finish that roar of outrage as Leysritt had slashed his back, the golem struck backwards in a vain attempt to hit her but this time she dodge out of the way.

" ** _Time Alter: FIVE TIMES EXCEL!_** " Kiritsugu seemed to teleport behind Jubstacheit and wasted no time firing as he had the barrel of the Thompson Contender against the golem's skull.

 ** _BANG!_**

The blood splattered on the floor as the origin round left the golem's skull.

"Argh?!" Kiritsugu fell to the ground, spasming and in pain as the effects of the pill wore off.

" _Daddy?!_ " Illya screamed.

" _Lord Kiritsugu! Quick Leysritt help him up!_ " Sella yelled at her partner, the maid quickly complied as she hefted Kiritsugu onto her back. Michael slowly cooled down and walked towards the wall Thomas was leaning on.

"So, you need a hand?" Michael asked with a smug smile on his face.

"Ha! No I can walk just fine thank you." Thomas said with pride rolling off him in waves.

"That so? Well I'm helping out anyway." Michael put Thomas's left arm over his shoulder and the pair began walking towards the exit with the rest of the group.

"Kiritsugu." It started out so small that they couldn't hear it.

"Kiritsugu." This time only Leysritt thought she heard something.

"Kiritsugu." Even though the group was outside the castle, they started to hear the voice of what should have been a dead golem.

"KIRITSUGU!" Jubstachiet roared and sure enough, the golem began to stand but there was something undeniably wrong.

" **KIRITSUGU!** " The golem roared once more as sparks of energy began to escape his body.

" **KIRITSUGU!** " Lighting was jumping off the golem's body in multiple arcs now but that wasn't the worst part. That would have been the hordes of homunculi rushing from inside the castle and towards Jubstachiet.

"Nope!" Michael was the first to react and the first to start running again, everyone else quickly joined Michael in running away.

" **KIRITSUGU!** " A booming voice echoed from the Einzbern castle. The beast revealed itself as it broke through the first floor entrance, or what was left of it at least. The towering giant lumbered towards the fleeing group.

"Think those clay-mores would hurt that thing's feet?!" Michael could help but yell in terror and right in Thomas's ear as he was still supporting his friend.

"It wouldn't hurt to try!" Thomas yelled back in Michael's ear. Thomas looked over to Leysritt and called out to her.

" _Homunculus!_ " Leysritt looked towards Thomas.

" _My name is Leysritt._ " The girl said in her usual flat voice.

" _My apologizes! Leysritt, in Kiritsugu's long coat there should be a bomb switch! We placed clay-mores in this area._ " In response to this new information, Leysritt flipped Kiritsugu over just one shoulder, giving her a free hand to search Kiritsugu's long coat.

After a brief search Leysritt found the device.

" _Good job! On my signal, press the button!_ " Thomas would have continued with more instructions but Michael's sudden jerky stop caused the man to wince in pain.

"Bad news, we're at the bounded field, good news? I can just smash this to create an opening." Michael pulled Thomas off his shoulder and started to bash away at the bounded field with his hammer.

"MORE! BAD! NEWS!" Michael said between hits.

"THIS THING IS STURDIER THAN I EXPECTED!" Michael yelled as fast as he could.

" **KIRITSUGU!** " The beast bellowed as it drew closer.

" _That should be close enough!_ " Thomas yelled at Leysritt who pushed the button with that same bored face she held since the group first saw her. The forest briefly shook from the explosion but the beast only halted for but a moment. Leysritt and Thomas looked at each with worry, well at least Thomas looked worried, only for a shattering sound to bring them hope.

"Okay! Time to run again!" Michael yelled as he hauled his friend over his shoulder.

"I can run as well!" Thomas was quickly cut off by his panicking friend.

"You can yell at me later! We gotta get to the truck!" Thomas let out a groan before yelling at Sella and Leysritt, informing them of the truck waiting up ahead.

" _OH SHIT!_ " The truck driver yelled as he spotted the group and by extension, the giant tailing them.

" _Quick! Open the back then drive!_ " Thomas yelled at the man who quickly complied. The group practically launched themselves into the storage space as the truck driver raced to his seat. With a roar from the engine, the truck took off at high speeds. Yet the giant still followed, his lumbering turning into something that resembled a gallop.

"Holy crap! We are dead unless we do something like right now!" Michael yelled as he placed his friend down onto a storage wall and began charging a fire spell.

" _Thompson… Con…_ ARGH!" Kiritsugu muttered from his own wall that Leysritt had leaned him on.

" _Thompson? The Thompson Contender?_ " Sella asked with more panic than confusion.

"GIANT HAND INCOMING!" Michael screamed as the beast's hand nearly crushed the truck. Sella quickly searched through Kiritsugu's long coat and found the gun she was looking for.

" _I hope you know what you're doing Lord Kiritsugu._ " Sella whispered to herself as she aimed the gun.

 ** _BANG!_**

The bullet didn't fly straight or true but it did hit the target in its shoulder.

" ** _AHHHHHH!_** " The beast roared in pain.

"I don't know what you just did but keep it up!" Michael cheered upon seeing the giant's left arm catch fire and peel, his happiness faltered slightly at seeing the giant rip its own arm off.

" _Go Sella!_ " Illya joined Michael in cheering on the maid, Sella searched Kiritsugu once and pulled out the rest of his bullets.

" _Let's see how many more of these it can take._ " Sella said with more confidence than she had felt ever before in her life. Which was rather short considering she was, what, a year old?

 ** _BANG!_** Miss ** _BANG!_** Miss ** _BANG!_** Miss.

"And like that, I resign myself to death by giant." Michael said with a flat voice while he looked at Sella in disbelief.

" _Sister, perhaps you should just hand the gun and bullets over to me now._ " Leysritt said in her usual flat voice.

" _SHUT UP! THIS IS HARDER THAN IT LOOKS YOU KNOW!_ " Sella's embarrassed outrage was interrupted by Illya taking the gun from Sella's grip.

" _LEAVE US ALONE!_ " Illya screamed as she fired the Thompson Contender. Despite being thrown backwards by the gun's kickback and unlike Sella's shot, everything lined up just perfectly for Illya as the Origin round struck the giant's skull. The beast couldn't even roar in pain as the bullet's effects activated. The giant tumbled and caught ablaze, slowly breaking down into ash.

"Holy crap." Michael couldn't find any other words as the large corpse slowly left the groups view. Leysritt shut the storage door as everyone was still in stunned silence.

The truck later made a stop at a nearby hospital, quickly dropping off the group as the truck driver left to go into hiding. The group didn't leave the Hospital for two weeks as Kiritsugu was taking a rather long time to recover. What happened when they got back to Japan though? Well…

 **AN:**

 **Oh my word! This was a challenge to write. So fun fact, I'm using this story to help practice my writing. I can now safely say that my weakest point as a writer is fight scenes. Now before you go, a favor if I may. Please critic this chapter to the best of your ability, I've tried my best here but I need the hard truth to go any further as a writer.**

 **So until next time ladies and gentlemen, I hope you have a lovely hot chocolate on hand with some biscuits or cookies to dunk with your drink. BYE BYE!**


	5. Chapter 5

-v-

Imagine if you will a room that emits drowsiness as if it where the breeze from an AC unit. The chill in the air making the built up heat of the bed and covers more alluring than gold. An absolute silence that would compel even a holy man to stay his tongue.

 **BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

Alarm clocks are not holy men.

"Ugh…" Michael groaned as he flailed his arm around trying to hit the snooze button on the hotel room alarm clock.

"Don't bother Michael." Thomas said before a yawn overcame him. "We have to get up now or we'll get left behind by Kiritsugu."

Michael responded to this with a groan not too different from a zombie. The two men rose from their separate beds as if they were being hoisted by strings. Some quick morning stretches and one subtly broken alarm clock later, the two exited the hotel and made their way to the hospital Kiritsugu was staying at.

"So what are you going to do now Thomas? We helped the infamous Magus Killer take down the head of the Einzbern family. Coupled with the fact that you guys pissed off that other family just recently, well I'd say you've made some enemies." Michael paused briefly after seeing the contemplative look Thomas had.

"Now me, I've already got a place to lay low so I don't have to worry. You are a completely different story though mate. You've got a kid and we both know that she will become a target." Michael gave Thomas a concerned look causing him to let out a sigh.

"You're right but unlike you I cannot go into hiding, my daughter on the other hand." Thomas's face slowly turned into the sort of look you'd see on a conman after he successful swindled a rich sucker.

"You're sending her to Japan aren't you?" Michael said in a flat voice.

"What better place to hide a jewel than an abandoned slum?" Thomas said with smug self-satisfaction.

"You still need to work on your metaphors. We can continue this later though, wouldn't want someone to overhear something they shouldn't." Michael gestured to the hospital causing Thomas to go silent. As the pair entered the building they saw their two new comrades, Thomas shot Michael a look of smug superiority as he made his way over to the two homunculi.

" _Good morning Sella, good morning Leysritt. How are you two doing today?_ " Thomas asked cheerfully while ignoring the annoyed glare Michael was giving him.

" _Good morning Mr Thomas. We're doing quite well now that we're finally leaving._ " Sella said with relief evident in her tone, Leysritt merely nodded along as she was munching on a chocolate bar she bought from a nearby vending machine.

" _I agree, while Germany is lovely this time of year I'm still rather eager to go home myself. When will Kiritsugu be ready to leave?_ " Thomas kept his polite tone but didn't bother to hide his disappointment at Michael ignoring him in favor of the vending machine.

 _'Kill joy.'_ Thomas briefly thought to himself before focusing back on Sella.

" _Lord Kiritsugu is receiving his final check-ups as we speak. It shouldn't take more than half an hour, and that's if his check-ups take longer than expected._ " Sella practically chirped while saying this, causing Thomas to let out a small chuckle at her enthusiasm.

With a brief good-bye to Sella now he had gotten all the information he wanted, Thomas made his way to where Michael was sitting. As he sat down he briefly looked toward the pill of chocolate bars sitting next Michael.

"So we might have to wait half an hour, after that it's off to Japan with you and back to England for me." Thomas grunted as he tried to get comfortable in his chair. Seeing his friend's discomfort, Michael offered him a chocolate bar causing Thomas to roll his eyes but accepted the treat none the less.

"So when should I expect to have young Luvia arrive?" Michael said as he finished off his chocolate bar.

"Hmmm… In about three days. One to build the house, another to set up a work shop for her and one more to move her and all her belongings into the house." Thomas didn't bother to hide his smug smirk as he saw Michael give him a look of disbelief.

"I'm not even surprised; it's almost disgusting how rich your family is." Michael grumbled before chopping down onto another bar of chocolate.

"Ohohoho! Yes! Fall into despair at realizing the vast, impassable gap between our social statuses!" Thomas chortled loudly.

"You know I never knew you could be flung that far by a stationary horse." Michael's words struck Thomas as if they were arrows.

"T-t-that has nothing to do with-" Michael cut in before Thomas could continue his denial.

"What about that time where a flock pigeons literally rained shit down on you?" Michael continued as he mercilessly cut down his friend's ego.

"Right I'll be quiet now." Thomas said in defeat causing Michael to puff up in pride. After that brief moment of verbal sparring the duo fell into a comfortable silence, with only the sounds of chocolate bars being eaten filling the air.

 _'I wonder how Kiritsugu's kid is doing.'_ Michael thought in brief contemplation before he noticed there was only one chocolate bar left. His eyes met Thomas's and a message was shared between the two.

"ROCK! PAPER! SCISSORS!"

* * *

 _Meanwhile with Illya_

" _Almost done now, we just need to have a quick listen to your heart to see if there are any irregularities and then you'll be free to leave._ " The doctor's words made Illya want to let out a cheer of joy but Daddy had told her to be good and quiet if she wanted to stay with him during the check-up.

 _'I can't wait though! I get to see Daddy's home in Japan!'_ The very thought made Illya fidget in her chair.

 _'It won't quite be the same without Mummy though.'_ Illya had hoped that mean old man was lying about her mother's death and it was cold comfort learning it wasn't her Daddy who killed her.

" _All done Mr Emiya, just abstain from any intense physical workouts and you'll be back to full health in no time."_ The doctor said somewhat distractedly as he was preparing for his next patient.

" _Thank you for taking care of me. Alright Illya, let's go down stairs to meet with everyone._ " Kiritsugu offered Illya his hand which she took hold of in a vice like grip, for a child at least. As the father and daughter were halfway down the second set of stairs, Kiritsugu paused catching young Illya's attention right away.

" _I just remembered something I need to tell you Illya, lucky I remembered huh?_ " Kiritsugu asked in a voice he only ever used around three people in his life.

" _Oh! What did you remember? Do I have a surprise waiting for me at home?_ " Illya asked as she jumped onto Kiritsugu's arm causing the man to let out a small chuckle.

" _Take it easy, your Daddy just got told to not do things like this remember?_ " Illya let go at this but not without puffing up her cheeks to let Kiritsugu know of her displeasure.

" _Okay, okay._ " Illya sounding like a spoiled princess did nothing to lessen Kiritsugu's mirth.

" _Now where to start? Well at the end of the Holy Grail War, I used Saber to destroy the Holy Grail._ " Illya let out a gasp of surprise at this but Kiritsugu kept going.

" _The reason I did so was because I found out the Grail had been… Tainted is best way I can think of to describe it. My actions had an unexpected side effect though as the Grail set fire to the surrounding area and managed to kill everyone who was there at the time, all except one._ " Illya managed to keep herself from asking questions but let slip one at hearing the last part of Kiritsugu's sentence.

" _Wait what about you?_ " The question caused Kiritsugu to pause before he let out a low humorless chuckle.

" _Right, I survived as well of course._ " The way Kiritsugu said that only made Illya worry about her Daddy more.

" _I searched through that fire trying to find at least one survivor. One person I could save from my actions and I found him. A little boy just about to die and I managed to save him, so I kept an eye on the boy for a little while hoping his family wasn't in the blaze but it turns out I was wrong._ " Kiritsugu's voice went noticeably dead.

" _So I decided to give him the very thing I took from him, a family._ " Illya's eyes widen at this and a range of emotions were on display in her eyes, swapping between things like excitement and anger in seconds.

" _I won't lie and say Shirou didn't delay me a little in trying to get you back Illya but please don't be mad at him. I think you and him could get along really well, just give him a chance._ " Illya hide her frown but Kiritsugu could tell his children were probably going to have a rough start to their relationship.

 _'I guess there's not much else I can do about it for now.'_ The father daughter duo continued down the stairs once more. When they reached the ground floor, they were greeted with Michael and Thomas doing a high speed game of Rock Paper Scissors while Sella was trying to hold back Leysritt from stealing the chocolate bar Michael and Thomas were fighting over.

The sight caused the two to let out a sigh.

* * *

 _Meanwhile in Japan_

It was peaceful morning in Misaki.

Was what the current town populace was trying to fool themselves into believing as it currently had a visitor by the name of Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg and he was having the time of his life or is it un-life?

"HAHAHA! Wow! This place is almost in flux as much as where I'm heading!" Zelretch's statement caused people to try and ignore him even more than before. The only acknowledgment the town's folk gave Zelretch now was a wide gap of space between them and him.

"Now I just need to find a map to give me a general direction to walk towards next." Zelretch continued to mutter as he walked into a random book store, a few minutes later Zelretch exited the establishment. It's best to not talk about what happened in there but let's just say our resident mad bat got a bit too enthusiastic on seeing who one of the children in the store was.

Poor kid is never going to see the world the same way ever again. Non-plot related things aside; Zelretch had obtained a map and was ready to make the final trek to Fuyuki City.

"After I get some breakfast, I'm pretty hungry after walking this far." Zelretch was going to make the final trek to Fuyuki City after he had a hearty breakfast at a local café.

"Will it have bagels?" A local café that provide bagels no less!

"Then I shall make my way to this place of wonder!" Zelretch stated as he marched to the café located a few blocks down the street. The owners and staff of the café were paid a rather generous sum of cash the following week.

* * *

 _Meanwhile at the Emiya Estate_

For Maiya the days seemed to follow a certain pattern that she was just now beginning to pick up on. In the morning she and Shirou would have a brief stare down to see who got to cook breakfast, followed by Fujimura practically crashing into the house to eat with them and then escort Shirou to school.

She would then spend the first quarter of the day cleaning up after Fujimura. After which she would then try out a new thing from a list of potential hobbies she had drawn up. Today she was trying out Origami. Making sure she locked up the house before she set off into town, Maiya began her journey to learn the art of paper folding.

Her first stop was a book store she had been frequenting recently in her hunt for a hobby, it was a small little book store that also doubled as a café.

"Good morning Hisua-san how can I help you today?" This was Maiya's latest ally in the search for a hobby, Ryota Hayashi.

"Good morning Hayashi-san. I've come here for another book." Maiya let a little smile appear on her face at the little back and forth the two had developed.

"The last hobby didn't work out again? Also how many times do I have to tell you, use my first name! My kids are telling me I'm old enough as is, so I don't need another reminder from one of my regular customers." Ryota continued his little rant but couldn't keep the smile off his face.

"Isn't it considered impolite for strangers to call each other by their first names? Also do you have any books on Origami and I'd like to order an espresso." Maiya said teasingly as she finished paying for her drink.

"Ha! I'm no stranger thank you and yes we do have a few books on Origami, I'll show you some of them once I'm done with the espresso." As Ryota started brewing the espresso, Maiya took her favorite seat that was in a location where the shadows covered her face but her body caught the sunbeam.

"Here is your espresso Hisua-san and an Origami book for beginners like yourself." Ryota said as he laid down the book and coffee in front of Maiya.

"Thank you Hayashi-san, do you mind if I have a quick look through the book before I buy it?" Maiya asked with a quick tap on the book just to emphasize the question.

"You know I don't mind and call me Ryota! All my other regulars' call me by my first name and I'll get you too call me by my first name too." Ryota tried to grumble this but he couldn't keep the small smile off his face.

"We'll see Hayashi-san." Maiya's response caused Ryota to snort a little before he went back to maintaining the front counter. This was Maiya's second favorite part of the day, with the serene quiet of the morning town letting Maiya focus on her soon to be acquired book. This tended to last three minutes, that being the amount of time it takes for Maiya to finish her coffee while distracted by a book.

Once Maiya finished her coffee and purchased her book, she quickly made her way back home. With spare paper at hand, Maiya opened her new book ready to try her luck with Origami.

 _RING~!_

 _'Well that's irritating.'_ Maiya thought with a sigh as she got up to make her way to the phone.

"Hello this is the Emiya residence." Maiya went for her usual polite tone but much to her surprise, a noticeable undertone of annoyance was present.

" _Hello Maiya._ " Kiritsugu greeted her in English with his voice in its trademark empty state.

" _Hello Kiritsugu, did the mission go awry? I've not doubted you're return but you did make Shirou rather nervous about your whereabouts._ " Maiya said as she tried to clamp down on her humanity once more, it was proving to be more of a struggle then before.

" _I made Shirou worry huh? I'll have to apologize to him when I get back. As for the mission, it was a success Maiya._ " Kiritsugu's voice became soft much to Maiya's shock.

" _Then you retrieved lady Illyasviel? Is she safe?_ " Maiya asked with a bit more panic and surprise slipping past her control then she liked.

" _She's safe Maiya, we're actually at the Fuyuki airport waiting for our cab to pick us up._ " Kiritsugu's voice was gentle and content, something Maiya never expected to hear come from Kiritsugu.

" _I see, than I shall prepare living arrangements for Lady Illyasviel._ " Maiya was about to hang up the phone when Kiritsugu caught her off guard one last time.

" _Thank you Maiya._ " The world seemed to just freeze for Maiya, all those years with Kiritsugu and she never once had she experienced Kiritsugu acting like this. It most certainly did not help her with managing and discovering her new emotions but the most concerning thing was how Kiritsugu said 'Thank you'. Something about it made her worry about him.

 _'No time for that I… I need to focus.'_ Maiya thought as she tried to convince herself that Kiritsugu was fine. Try as she might, Maiya could not completely take her mind off how Kiritsugu said thank you. Even when she finished preparing a room for Lady Illyasviel and was able to try her hand at Origami once more, those three words Kiritsugu had spoken continued to haunt her.

"I'm home!" Maiya found herself releasing a breath she didn't realize she had been holding, Kiritsugu was back to sounding like he was around Shirou.

"Welcome back!" Maiya shouted back, feeling a bubbly like warmth rise in her chest from performing the traditional greeting. When the group arrived entered the main room where she was seated, Maiya would admit she blinked in surprise.

" _Hello Miss Maiya. My name is Illyasviel von Einzbern… Or is it Illyasviel von Emiya now?_ " Illya pouted slightly as she pondered her own last name.

" _Hello Lady Illyasviel it's lovely to finally meet you. Before I forget, do you mind introducing your two friends to me?_ " Maiya had to hold back a little smile at the shocked face of embarrassment that overtook Illya's face at having forgotten to introduce her two maids/friends.

" _Oh! Yes! I was just getting to them! Hahaha…_ " Illya tried to laugh off her little blunder much to the amusement of everyone present, expect for Michael, he doesn't speak German.

" _Ahem! Miss Maiya these two are my maids Leysritt._ " Illya pointed to the deadpanned maid who replied with a soft ' _Hello_ ' and a light bow. " _And Sella!_ " The more petite looking maid replied with a slightly louder ' _Hello_ ' but did an even deeper bow.

" _I must apologize in advance, I admit I thought only Kiritsugu, Illyasviel, and Michael would be coming here. As such I only prepared a room for Illyasviel and Michael, do you two mind if we discuss your sleeping arrangements later though? Shirou will be arriving home soon and I'd like to be able to focus on making sure he isn't overwhelmed by all this._ " The two maids nodded their heads in compliance at this but perhaps it wasn't the maids Maiya should have paid attention too. At the mention of Shirou, Illya's eyes developed an almost calculating look.

" _Daddy, when is Shirou going to be home?_ " Illya asked in a dangerously sweet voice that caused everyone present, sans Michael, to pause for a moment. Illya still holding a smile that resembled the amount of warmth you could find in winter, was waiting patiently for an answer.

* * *

 _Meanwhile with Shirou_

Suppressing a shiver as he felt another chill run down his spine, Shirou came to the conclusion that he was either being haunted or his future grave must be in a really public space. Clearing his head of such thoughts Shirou continued to make his way home.

Just as Shirou arrived back at his house, he heard muffled chattering coming from inside. Shirou's face lit up with happiness and hope at the singular thought that popped into his head because of the muffled chatter.

 _'Is dad home?'_ With expectations higher than a kite, Shirou opened the front door and practically cheered the traditional greeting.

"I'm home!" and not a moment later he heard Kiritsugu shout back. "Welcome home."

Shirou couldn't help but break into a huge goofy grin as he almost tripped himself over in his hurry to take off his shoes and race to greet his dad once again. With a few more near slips and trips, Shirou opened the door to the dining room expecting to see his dad and maybe that other weird guy he brought along from last time. Three brand new strangers sitting at the dinner table were evidently not in young Shirou's list of things he expected to see today.

"Haha… Surprise?" Kiritsugu's awkward attempt at to lighten the mood did not help at all.

"U-um, hello." Shirou said in shy manner as he looked to find Maiya for support. Shirou would've have made his way over to Maiya if one of the three strangers, the little girl, hadn't given what he guessed was a greeting in German? Kiritsugu then proceeded to translate what she said with a somewhat wry tone.

"'It's a pleasure to meet you little brother' is what she said." Kiritsugu's translation provoked the obvious reaction from Shirou.

"I have a sister?" With a little bit hesitation, Shirou looked over to his new older sister.

"Shirou this is Illyasviel von-" Kiritsugu paused briefly to look at his daughter who look just as unsure as he did. "Einzbern or if she wants; Illyasviel von Emiya and just like she said before, she is your older sister." Kiritsugu watched as the two children began to try and suss each other out, Illya seemed to be the dominate force as she stared down and occasionally glared at Shirou. Our young little red head was shyer in his examination of his new sibling, only giving her shy glances and rarely looking her in the eye.

The almost tense atmosphere was broken by a rather loud stomach growl. Everyone looked towards the source of the noise, Michael did not lower his head in shame, and in fact he actually looked a tad annoyed.

" _I was forced to skip launch because our plane flight was during an awkward time and Kiritsugu took all my on hand cash. I'm not apologizing for my hunger._ " Michael stated with an uncharacteristic frown on his face. Kiritsugu was polite enough to translate Michael's statement to German for Illya and her two maids, while Maiya translated the statement to Japanese for Shirou.

"Then can I cook dinner? I mean Wingdom-san didn't have lunch so I can cook more food than usual right?" Shirou then finished with a powerful puppy-dog pout so he could hog the kitchen all to himself. Maiya only briefly flattered under the power of such a cute sight and made a brief mental note to scowled Taiga for teaching Shirou such a trick.

* * *

 _Meanwhile with Taiga_

" _Oh Lance! I never thought I could be so happy before in my life! In fact I have a surprise for you! I'm pregnant with your child!_ " The woman on screen exclaimed with plastic love and enthusiasm, causing our little Tiger to roar with laughter.

"Oh! I- I- I can't breathe!" The little hunter wheezed out, until a chill so cold went down her spine that she would've sworn someone had poured ice water down her back if she didn't already know that she was alone in her bedroom.

"M-maybe I'm just catching a cold?" Taiga said to herself in the vain hope that Maiya hadn't discovered that she taught Shirou the puppy-dog trick, her one fault in logic was that it was impossible for her to catch a cold. After all, idiots can't catch colds according to her.

* * *

 _Back at the Emiya estate_

The kitchen had become something of a Mexican stand off as the three chefs in the house decided that they were going to cook dinner. In one corner by the fridge there was Shirou trying to use the power of cute and child logic to claim the kitchen, he was gaining ground on Maiya with these techniques but his other opponent wasn't giving him an inch. Sella was in the other corner by the pantry using her experience as a maid as her main selling point with the meals she was listing off by heart causing young Shirou to pout even more at his lack of knowledge, this didn't impress Maiya in the slightest however. Maiya was in the corner where the cutlery was stored; Maiya was making cold, hard, logical arguments on why she should cook with her most crushing fact being that it was her kitchen in the end.

No side was winning and Michael was still starving.

" _Hey Kiritsugu, I know I'm basically a guest here and that you are helping me out with the whole hiding in Japan thing but, do you think you could end this little battle of wills? Because I'm really, really, REALLY hungry right now._ " Michael said with some annoyance.

Being the only one able to understand Michael's request, Maiya tried a technique she had read in one of her past hobby books, the scary smile. Kiritsugu briefly paused at the mismatched sight of Maiya's smile along with the killing intent that was rolling off her and quickly concluded that it would be safest to let Maiya have the kitchen.

"All right you three, let Maiya use the kitchen to cook dinner. You can take turns on who gets to use the kitchen if you want to be stubborn about it." Kiritsugu said in a placating tone causing both Shirou and Sella to sulk while Maiya just blinked in surprise.

 _'That was surprisingly effective. I'll have to keep that trick in mind for future use.'_ Maiya thought to herself as she began to prepare a feast.

* * *

 _Meanwhile with Taiga_

Our little tiger was currently hiding beneath her bed sheets; the shivering mess being the only hint that little Miss Taiga was awake and wasn't having a nightmare at the moment.

"WAH!" The little hunter screamed as a chill twice as strong as before rocketed down her spine.

"Maiya-san just got scarier!" The little hunter howled as it foresaw it's soon to be future of ' _scolding with a smile_ ' the Maiya edition.

* * *

 _Back at the Emiya estate_

The dinner table was tense affair.

For the two children at least, Shirou felt rather nervous as his new older sister just kept glaring at him and dad insisted that he should sit next to her. Illya herself was having a similar yet entirely different debate in her mind.

 _'Why does he have to sit next to me? I want to sit next to Daddy but nooo! I have to sit next to this nervous ball of red fluff.'_ Then almost as if he read her mind, Shirou sent a cautious yet curious glance to his older sister. Causing a wave of anger to wash over little Illya.

 _'Again! What's with those looks he's sending me?! You're the reason Daddy was late! So stop looking so innocent!'_ Illya shot Shirou another glare causing the young red head look away in a panic.

 _'Stop looking hurt every time I do that as well! I felt hurt even more because of you.'_ Illya scolded the young boy in her mind but couldn't quite ignore the pang of guilt she started to feel each time she did so.

" _Dinner is ready._ " Even though Illya couldn't understand what Maiya was saying, she could see and smell the food she was bringing to the table. It looked a bit like the pictures of spaghetti she had seen in the recipe books Mummy used to show her but it didn't look like it had any sauce.

Seeing his daughter's confusion Kiritsugu lightly tapped her on the shoulder to catch her attention.

"Just in case you're wondering Illya, that's called Yaki udon. It's a stir-fry type dish, I think you might like it." Kiritsugu said with a small smile, Illya gave the dish a wary look before she started to eat.

" _Hey dad? Why is big sister eating with_ _a fork?_ " Shirou asked with a little tilt of the head causing Kiritsugu to chuckle slightly.

" _Illya didn't use chopsticks as much where she was Shirou, so we're letting her use whatever she feels most comfortable with at the moment._ " Kiritsugu's answer got a little ' _Okay!_ ' out of Shirou before he went back to his meal.

The rest of dinner was an awkward affair as only two people spoke more than one language and communication was proving to be difficult. Even with that little detail, the atmosphere became fairly relaxing and it stayed that way even when almost everyone had gone to sleep. Making his way to the veranda area outside, Kiritsugu sat down and let out a relieved sigh and began to let his thoughts wonder for the first time in so long.

 _'I wish you could've of seen this Irisviel, I know it would've made you happy. The only concerns I really have now is whether or not Illya and Shirou can get along before I die and getting Illya a treatment to allow her body to age naturally.'_ Letting out one last sigh of relief, Kiritsugu looked up at the stars and smiled.

And so the years passed and Kiritsugu managed to find a treatment for Illya and her body began to age naturally once more. Shirou had also managed to break past Illya's icy front she put up just for him and the pair became nigh impossible to keep apart.

The new family lived it's remaining day in peace and lived happily ever after.

For once I wish it were so simple, I could end it here and let this family have the happy ending it should have gotten many times over. Sadly that's not the goal of this story, because even though I believe in happy endings, I do not believe they can be earned quite so easily.

No, stories with a truly happy ending need three things in my opinion. First, you need a prize or goal worthy of extreme conflict and fighting. Second, you need to have a battle ground with stakes and consequences attached to it. Finally for the third, you need a villain to challenge and even defeat the heroes.

This is the criteria I follow and how it will be reached can only be described as a series of unfortunate events. For you see, everything truly began to be set in motion with the playing of two musical notes, I'm sure you've heard them at least once before.

 _DING~ DONG~_

The sound seemed to echo through-out the house as it caused everyone to pause, some in fear and others in curiosity. This was not an odd reaction by any stretch of the imagination however, after all. What would you do when your doorbell rung after you forgot to get it installed in the first place?

"I'll answer the door Kiritsugu. Can you please take over Michael's Japanese lesson while I'm up?" Maiya said with forced politeness as she got up somewhat rigidly. Kiritsugu silently nodded at Maiya's request and started to whisper something to Michael, probably a plan of attack of some sort.

The walk to the front door of the house had never felt longer to Maiya, even opening it for their surprise guest felt like she was moving rubble rather than wood.

"Good day Miss Hisau." The greeting was polite and upbeat, not a trace of hostility could be found in the tone and there wasn't enough of a sentence for something to be hidden between the lines of subtext. Despite all this, Maiya felt a wave of terror wash over her as old man Zelretch stood before her.

"Terribly sorry about the abrupt visit but I have something I would like to discus with Mr Emiya. So if I'm not being too rude, may I come inside?" Zelretch said with a chipper smile on his face, Maiya nodded shakily and let the gentleman inside the house.

Once Zelretch entered the main room, everyone save Illya and Shirou froze which made the gentleman smile in amusement.

"Hello there Mr Emiya! My apologies for the surprise visit but I have some very important matters I would like to discuss with you." Zelretch finished with a smile that caused a sinking feeling in Kiritsugu, mind you that could've just been his curse kicking up a fuss again, hard to tell the difference honestly.

"It's not much of a problem. Maiya, would you mind taking everyone else away for a little while?" Kiritsugu asked with a soft enough voice where it was barely audible to everyone in the room.

"Right away Kiritsugu." Maiya replied as she hurried everyone out of the room.

The sight caused Zelretch to chuckle once more before he made his way to Kiritsugu to sit next to him. Kiritsugu eyed Zelretch's every action throughout this, half expecting him to open a portal of sorts just to mess with him in some manner. Nothing happened though as Zelretch sat perfectly still with his eyes focused on Kiritsugu, observing him as they both sat in silence. Surprisingly it was Kiritsugu who broke the silence first.

"Why have you come here?" It was direct and straight to the point, it also caused Zelretch to start giggling.

"I'm here to help you Mr Emiya. There's been whispers on the wind about you looking for a way to cure your daughter's inability to age." Zelretch said as he wore a smug grin that caused Kiritsugu's heart to skip a beat in pure panic.

"Oh don't worry so much! Only I know about this little secret of yours and I've come to offer some of my services and resources. Of course we both know that these things don't just come free of course; there is a price to discuss." Kiritsugu remained stone faced throughout Zelretch's little reveal.

"What if I refuse your help?" The question didn't even cause so much as a twitch in Zelretch's big smug smile.

"Then I'll just wait around here for a bit, set up another work shop, take on some new students, and just in general wait for you to realize that I'm your only chance at saving your daughter. Oh sure there are other people who could provide you with alternate solutions but at the rate your curse to progressing." Zeltrech briefly paused to give Kiritsugu a knowing look and make some wary sounds. All while savoring the brief look of fear and shock that took hold of Kiritsugu's expression.

Little bit heavy handed there Zelretch?

 _'Not the time writer, I've almost got him to accept.'_ Zelretch briefly thought with his face still being the same smug mask as before.

"They'd call your bluff of maintaining strength and your friends and family would be left to deal with the backlash. So are you sure you want to continue to look this gift horse in the mouth? This is your daughter's future on the line after all." Kiritsugu tried, oh how he tried to hide the conflict that raged in his mind but, every now and then Kiritsugu eyes would betray his thoughts or his face would briefly contort to a frown. All these signs and more confirmed that Kiritsugu, however wary of Zelretch he may be, was going to accept the deal.

"Let's… talk about the price." Kiritsugu sounded ashamed and defeated at having to accept this man's help. This wild, unpredictable, and impossible man, whatever pride Kiritsugu might have had in his strength as the Magus Killer was shattered in that one moment.

"Oh I'm not going to asking for much. It's actually rather simple, you see in few years from now I'm throwing a massive party and I would like to invite someone from this house to come along. Can you guess who it is?" Zelretch's question was met with ice cold silence.

"Killjoy, I would like to invite young Shirou to the party." Zelretch watched in amusement once again as Kiritsugu fought to keep down the flare of emotions that arose from his little party invitation.

"Before you start worrying about my plans, let me assure you that no harm will come to Shirou because of this party, in fact I think he'll learn quite a few important things from it." HAHAHAHAHAHA!

"I'm not lying, I really do plan to have one heck of a party and Shirou is a key ingredient to making it the display of fireworks I envisioned. What do you say? Is this an acceptable price, I'll even let you bring as many body guards along as you like with him." Zelretch reached out for a hand shake, Kiritsugu just looked at the extended hand like it was the single most vile thing on the planet. Yet he shook it anyway.

"If I find out even a single thing you proposed is untrue, I'll do everything in my power to make you pay." Kiritsugu said with resolve stronger than steel.

"I would be worried if you promised anything less." Zelretch said with genuine amusement. A few rooms over, Shirou felt the coldest chill yet run up and down his spine, three guess as to what caused it and the first two don't count.

 **A/N:**

 **Welcome to another chapter of The Sword and The Blacksmith.**

 **I'm going to be honest and let you that I didn't think I would actually finish this chapter for some time let alone release it in August, this one fought me every step of the way. So what's next on the agenda? Well character development mostly and some excuses for writing comedy and enjoying Saturday mornings with a unreasonable amount of pancakes and Canadian maple syrup. Also I wouldn't go getting your hopes up for another chapter being released in the time frame of a week or two. I'm studying now which means I won't have as much free time.**

 **Still that's no reason to not have fun so let me hear your thoughts. What whacky hi-jinxes do you want Shirou and Illya to stumble into next chapter? You lot probably have more ideas than I do for stuff like that.**

 **So until next time ladies and gentlemen, I hope you have a lovely hot chocolate on hand with some biscuits or cookies to dunk with your drink. BYE BYE!**


	6. Chapter 6

-vi-

Little Illya felt like she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. After finding out about Shirou and how he delayed her Papa from coming to her recuse. She decided that she would hate her little brother, it was a simple and childish plan that she would probably forget about after a few weeks.

That was the plan but, there is a saying about such things.

"BIG SISTER! WHICH WAY DO WE GO?!" Young Shirou yelled as he bolted down an old temple hall, Illya quickly scanned the map in her hands.

"Left! Turn left!" Illya shouted while relatching her arms back around Michael's neck, causing him to choke and nearly trip.

" _This better be worth it!_ " Michael grouched as he and the two children continued to run away down an old temple hall.

Let's get some context shall we?

 _Four hours beforehand with Michael_

"You almost got it that time." Maiya stated. It was a fact that Michael almost got the more complicated phrases correct. Just like it was also fact he almost got them correct the fifteen other times he tried.

"Thanks for putting up with this Maiya but I think we should stop for today." Michael let out a sigh as his latest lesson in learning the Japanese language was met with failure once more.

"Very well Mr Wingdom, would you like some tea before you go scouting for a space for your workshop." Maiya said in a casual display of multitasking as she began to pack away the mess of books and scatted paper.

"Thank you that would be lovely. If possible I'll have a English breakfast with milk and two sugars please." Maiya gave a small nod at his request and strolled away with paper and books in hand.

"Pardon my rudeness." Zelretch savored the small jump Michael made, sneaking up on people was always fun.

"Why are you trying to learn Japanese like this?" Zelretch asked with a flippant tone as he sat down at the table.

"Because this is how people learn other languages?" Michael's answer came out more like a question as he tried to discreetly distance himself from the powerful trickster.

"But you're a magus. You don't have to learn like everyone else and we have all sorts of ways to translate languages." Zelretch found his attention from the conversation drifting slightly as a pair of birds flew by.

 _'Pretty sure those were a type of Pheasant.'_ Zelretch focused back on Michael just as he reached the door to try and escape. Go to Zelretch, do not call for help, and do not collect your two hundred dollars.

"I know about the translators Magus use Master Zelretch." Michael used the name tentatively but let out a small sigh of relief when the mad bat didn't react negatively.

"Trusting a Magus to put a mystic relic on my brain is something most of us avoid doing on principle. I'd trust a still in training surgeon to fuck me up less." This got a small chuckle out of the old bat, Michael thought about joining him in chuckling but then remembered who he was talking to and wisely decided not to.

"Good thing my translators don't need surgery to work." Zelretch proceeded to pull out a packet of gummy bears from inside his coat and began snacking on them; Michael was about to try and escape again when he processed what Zelretch just said.

"Wait wait wait. What do you mean by that, apart from the obvious fact that there is no surgery involved?" Michael dared to look at Zelretch with something other than fear, considering it was hope aimed at Zelretch this might as well be the same thing.

"Well it all started when I was craving some rock candy one day." Zelretch smiled wickedly as Michael developed a twitch of the cheek.

"Just kidding, maybe, but I can safely say my translators are superior to anything a Magus of today could produce." Zelretch finished smugly.

"You're baiting me. Why are you baiting me?" Michael felt a sinking feeling in his gut as Zelretch's smile started to look much too sharp and showed far too many teeth.

"Well, the other day I went along to a high tea to meet some likeminded people." Read bat shit insane "but I left my wallet there by accident, one of the guests gave me a ring the other day to inform me about it and told me to collect it from them at any time." Zelretch had to hold in a snicker at the weary look Michael was sending him.

"That sounds simple but it's never that simple with you. What's the catch?" Michael took a seat opposite to Zelretch, who looked to be physical embodiment of the phrase ' _Cat caught the Canary_ '.

"Good to see you're not brain dead. My wallet is with one of the people" Monsters "That I met at the high tea. His house just so happens to be a heavily booby trapped pyramid." This explanation only caused Michael to groan at the sheer insanity of it all.

"Why a pyramid of all things?"

"So I could draw you this map!" Zelretch said a little too happily as he pulled out a well-worn map from his coat and placed it on the table. The sinking feeling Michael felt only deepened as he realised he couldn't read the map.

"I can't read this, why would give me this map when I can't read it?" The conversation was interrupted by a rather bewildered Shirou and Illya.

"Miss Maiya!""Mum!" The siblings called out in sync.

"Woah! What's got you… two…" Michael felt his current train of thought derail rather spectacularly as he realized something.

"You're speaking English." The two children paused in their rant to Zelretch as they realized they could understand Michael for the first time.

"Zelretch, what did you do?" The accusing tone in Michael's voice only caused the mad bat to chuckle.

"Why do think it was me? I would most certainly not switch my translator gems with the morning treats Maiya bought for the children today." It was at this moment that Michael started to fit all the puzzle pieces together.

"No…" It started out slow.

"Well I guess since you can't read the map." It then proceeded to a light stroll.

"No no no." This then turned into a casual jog.

"I guess your only course of action is." That then turned into a run.

"NOOOOOOO!" Which transformed into an all-out sprint.

"What's the matter Mister Wingdom?" Shirou dared to ask thanks to his young naiveté.

"I am not taking those two children with me! Nope! Na uh! Not happening! No!" This reaction only made the children's curiosity peak that little bit more.

"Wait, where are you going Mister Wingdom?" Illya asked with a frown, which for Illya is more like a pout and Illya's pouts are like a super young kitten looking both fluffy and annoyed. So to sum it all up, she tried to look serious like daddy but only made herself look cute by doing so.

"Michael just volunteered to do a little errand for me but he can't read the map needed for it." Zelretch was absolutely cackling on the inside at the moment.

 _'I do not cackle!'_ yeah you do, now shush.

"No do not listen to him, your Dad would kill me if I let you two come with me on this errand." Zelretch was quick to override Michael however.

"They'll be fine with you there to protect them Michael, besides you won't find my wallet without this map which only the kids can read." Zelretch's taunt earned him a withering glare from Michael.

"I'm not doing it, no translator is worth putting those kids life on the line." Michael began to stare down Zelretch, beginning a contest of wills between the two men. Let it be known however that Zelretch never enters such contests without a way to cheat.

"Well I guess I can't convince you, and here I was going to let you grab my wallet which has the tools necessary for curing young lady Illya." The sadness Zelretch displayed was entirely theatrical but it was the only way he could think of to not burst into laughter, Michael had a great range of comical expressions for shock and surprise.

"That's a low blow mate, even for you." Michael grumbled once he overcame his shock.

"Oh please, low blows are often the most efficient ones." Zelretch said with full confidence.

"They're also the ones that make you look like a dickhead." Michael mumbled under his breath.

"Right then, best to get you lot on your way." Zelretch got up smoothly and with not even a click of his fingers, the world around him began to distort. Michael was the first to react as he grabbed the map and then did the equivalent of a soft spear tackle to grab hold of Illya and Shirou.

This proved to be a wise decision as the world broke away beneath the newly formed trio.

 _'Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!'_ was Michael's first thought process that was then interrupted by the screams of young Illya and Shirou. With his newly ringing eardrums snapping Michael out of his panic, he began to do what any good magi with plot relevance would do, he improvised.

 _'Okay! We're falling and that's probably, totally, going to kill us! What would a movie hero try? What movie should I even think about!'_ Michael's thought process was once again interrupted thanks to the failing kids in his arms by way of Shirou's elbow meeting Michael's jaw.

 ** _WHACK!_**

 _'Okay! Okay! Think of flying! Who could I take an example out of?'_ It was then that Michael got his proverbial light-bulb and started to send prana to his feet.

"Here's a hoping." Michael muttered and with a burst of flames through his feet, and his socks, the trio soon found themselves spinning in mid-air.

"Come! On! You! Son! Of! A! Bitch!" Michael shouted between each thrust of flames as he tried to straighten himself mid-air. The spinning began to slow down after the lucky tenth burst of flames and Michael finally managed to get a handle on slowing down the fall.

The decent to the ground was a slow process with Michael almost losing his balance, dropping the kids, or burning the map on the way down. Finally, the trio landed in a desert area with a giant pyramid being the only visible landmark.

"Okay, out of the frying pan and into the fire." Michael said as he put down the two children he had been carrying. The pair were exhausted from screaming their lungs out and being in a constant state of panic and stress, it was only when Shirou managed to gain some semblance of calm did he ask.

"Mister Wingdom, what just happened?" Shirou voice still had a slight tremble to it, gaining a look of sympathy from Michael and a brief look of understanding from Illya before it was replaced by false indifference.

"Ah, that's a tough one to answer. How much do you know about Magi Shirou?" Michael said as he began to march towards to the pyramid with the two small children trotting after him.

"Well, um, um, um, Dad's a Magi and, and um." Shirou stumbled over his words desperately trying to remember anything related to the subject. Michael took a deep breath through his nose and let out a deep sigh.

"Okay Shirou. I'm going to give you a highly condensed version of what Magi are and, the two big types of stuff we use." Michael's exasperated tone made Shirou feel like a bit of an idiot with the smug look his sister was sending him only worsening the feeling.

"First off, Magus are basically scientists who either use or research supernatural things, there are other factions and people but we won't go into that. Most Magus use something called ' **Magecraft** ' and to sum that big mess up in one sentence. Its mundane means and items given a magical twist but, what was just used on us are called ' **True Magic** '. Bottom line for that one is that it's something you can't recreate with mundane techniques or technology, you with me so far?" Michael looked over his shoulder and saw Shirou give him a nod.

"Okay, now True Magic is basically as rare as it gets for a Magus. In fact it's so rare that only five have been recorded in all of known Magus history and we just got hit with the Second Magic, also known as the Kaleidoscope." Michael saw the way Shirou's eyebrows furrowed which caused Michael to chuckle to himself.

"It's called that because, like a looking through a kaleidoscope. You can see many different and unique things that you wouldn't be able to see otherwise, say for instance, a parallel world." Shirou stuttered out an 'Okay' though it was clear to Michael and Illya that he didn't really get the concept.

"Anyway, Zelretch is the only known person with the Second Magic and he is also known for being a trickster of sorts. What we're walking through right now is just one of his many tricks, so what we just got assigned to do is enter this old as temple, find his wallet and hopefully he'll bring us home." Michael finished with a hint of uncertainty. The children didn't miss Michael's tone of voice and for once Illya let Shirou huddle next to her.

The rest of the walk was a quiet affair with only the occasional break to allow the kids to catch their breath from walking so much. Once the trio got to the temple however…

"Okay this is much worse than I thought." Michael's statement went over the children's head however as the pair were currently mystified by the ever shifting and colour changing door. Michael was quick to snap the kids out of such a trance.

* _Click* *Click*_

"Hey come on now, I need you two to focus on the map." That managed to shake the kids out of their stupor as Michael handed the rolled up map to the siblings. Shirou had a look of awe on his face as the writing on the page shifted before him while Illya had scrunched up her face in a look of concentration.

"Hey bi- Illya, what does the map say?" Shirou asked whilst trying his best not to fidget, he was briefly distracted by the sound of Michael putting his face into his hands at high speeds.

"Of course! He's a five year old! Of course he can't read a map like this!"

Before looking back at his older sister for an answer, Illya made a thoughtfully humming noise before she looked at her little brother.

"I think I got it, we have to touch the door as it hits the colour blue. That'll transport us to a safe zone in the pyramid." Illya said in full confidence that got two different reactions from her current companions, Shirou was looking at her with wide eyed wonder while Michael just heaved a sigh at the situation in general.

"Just count your blessing mate, just count them while you can." Michael mumbled under his breath before he walked right up to the door. The colour blue flashed by a few times before Michael looked back at the kids.

"Alright you two, grab a hold of me just in-case, I don't want you two to get stuck out here if this only teleports once." The kids quickly latched onto a leg each, much to Michael's dismay. He didn't linger on the fact that he basically now had a brick on each leg and turned his focus back on the ever shifting door.

The colours on the door melted into each other every few seconds before they seemly snapped back to blue. Michael's hand was shaking a little from the fear of potential failure before he snapped it forward just as the door changed to blue once more.

Unlike most forms of teleportation Michael had heard of, there was no bright light to blind them or even a popping noise to show what just happened. So he was understandably put off balance when his hand seemly just continued forward.

 **CRASH!**

"Ow… Are two alright?" Michael looked back at the children as he nursed a freshly forming lump on his head.

"I'm fine Mr Wingdom." Illya said with a little whine, Shirou merely nodded at the question as he brushed himself down.

"Okay so where do go now Illya?" Michael said as he brushed off any remaining sand on his clothes. Illya unrolled the map once more and frowned in concertation.

"It says to keep walking and then turn right at the monkey." Illya nodded to herself before she rolled the map up once more. With this, the trio started the long walk down a hall with what appeared to be engraved walls.

"Hey Mr Michael!" It was with great will that Michael didn't yelp at Shirou's decision to suddenly break the silence, he did jump slightly however.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Shriou said with what looked to be tears in his eyes. Michael held back a sigh as he turned around to look at Shirou.

"It's alright Shirou, what did you want to ask?" Shirou looked a bit nervous as his sister looked at him with a cold expression.

"It's just, it's getting darker now."

Just like Shirou said, the hall they were in was getting darker by the second. Michael did let out a sigh of annoyance this time before giving Shirou's hair a friendly tussle.

"Good eye Shirou." Michael's praise caused Shirou to smile before he remembered that he was still someplace dangerous and tried to match that flat look Illya and dad use a lot.

"Illya, let me know when it gets too hard to read. I'll be able to give us a good light to use." Illya nodded her head in response. Once the trio finally reached the end of the hall, they were greeted with the sight of a monkey statue worshiping a slice of cheese being held up by a rather odd looking man.

"I don't, I mean, just, huh?" Michael's sentiment was shared with the kids as they tried to comprehend the sight before them.

"Let's just move on, you said we had to go right Illya?" Michael said casually while trying to ignore the monkey statue before him.

"Yes, that's what the map says." Illya replied with equal nonchalance, completely ignoring the existence of the of monkey statue.

"Okay then, let's go." Michael would have started a rather brisk walk away from his object of denial, if it weren't for Shirou tugging on his pants.

"Mr Michael, do statues move a lot at Magi places?" Shirou's question caused Michael to flinch as he and Illya turned around to look at the monkey.

"Oeee." The once assumed monkey statue sounded out as it made its way towards the trio. Illya gave the monkey a critical stare (well as much as an eight year old can muster at least) before she looked up at Michael.

"Do you think it's friendly?" Michael didn't have time to answer as he pulled Shirou back just in time as the monkey tried to take Shirou's head off. The failure to do so sent the monkey into a rage as it started smashing the floor beneath it, turning the solid stone floor into a fine powder.

"That's a no! A BIG OL NO! RUN!" Michael's orders were swiftly followed by everyone present, including the monkey.

"ARRHHH!" The super monkey bellowed as it chased the group down the sandy hall. Michael quickly whispered ' _Ignite_ ' as he started to gather prana for an attack.

"Illya! Which way do we have to turn next?!" Michael shouted as he looked over his shoulder only to grimace as he saw that the super monkey was quickly closing the gap. Illya attempted to unroll the map again but the running caused her to almost drop it.

"Oh for-! Hold on Illya!" This was the young lady's only warning before Michael picked her up and placed her on his back.

"T-thank you!" Illya shouted back with a bit of surprise at being lifted like a sack of potatoes. With new found stability, Illya unrolled the map a started to read the new instructions forming before her.

"BIG SISTER! WHICH WAY DO WE GO?!" Shirou calling her big sister briefly distracted her as she was still trying to holding a grudge against Shirou.

' _I'll just scold him later! Big sisters get to do that, I think?_ ' Illya quickly shook the stray thought away before shouting.

"Left! Turn left!" Shirou frantically nodded as he tried to run even faster down the hall.

"This had better be worth it!" Michael grou-

Oh would you look at that. We got context now, moving on!

As the end of the hall came into sight, Michael grabbed Shirou's arm before he leapt up and landed heavily on the ground causing him to slide.

 _'Wait for it… NOW!'_ Just before the trio hit the wall, Michael sent a burst of flames through his feet causing the trio to take off with a new momentum. The super monkey had no such tricks and crashed into the wall with enough force to smash through it.

"Alright! Shirou, can you keep up with this running pace?" Michael said as he wiped away some sweat with his free hand. Shirou shook his head in reply as he tried to catch his breath, Michael groaned at the soon to be weight on his back. With one quick lift, Shirou found himself sitting with Illya who gave him a cold look before focusing back on the map.

"ARRRHHH!" The super monkey made its presence known once more as it climbed out of the hole in the wall it just made and shot off after the group like a bullet. The sound of ground being crushed drawing closer caused Michael to swear under his breath.

"Illya, where do we turn next?" Michael's question caused Illya to look down at the map; the frown Illya suddenly sported caused her little brother panic a little.

"What's wrong big sister?" Shriou questioned as his face started lose its colour. Illya suppressed the urge to glare at her younger brother as she could see the fear present in his features.

"It just says ' ** _JUMP_** '." Michael briefly wondered if this was Zelretch just messing with them until he saw the massive gap coming up.

"Zelretch you are the biggest ass I've had the displeasure of knowing." Michael grumbled as he gathered prana once more.

"ARRHH!" The bellow was Michael's only warning to dodge to the side as the super monkey charged past them; it was at that moment Michael felt vindictive glee as the Monkey went from screaming in rage to screaming in panic. The super monkey tried to gain enough traction to stop before the gap only barely managing to save itself; at least it would have if Michael didn't take the chance to use the Super Monkey as a spring board to launch off with a boost of flames.

The result of said action lead to the Super Monkey plummeting into the abyss below while Michael and the passengers on his back flew through the air and landed on the other side of the gap. This moment was then ruined by Michael botching the landing and sending the trio tumbling into the next hall.

"Owww, that wasn't fun, not in the slightest." Michael groaned as he slowly got up off the ground, the sight of the children doing the same caused him to sigh in relief.

"Alright Illya, what do we have to do next?" At Michael's questioning, Illya took out the map and began to read the new instruction appearing before her.

"It says to follow the left wall until you find a bakery?" Illya said with confusion evident in her face. Michael was briefly stalled by confusion as well, the only one who started to follow the maps directions was Shirou.

"Come on! Come on! I wanna see what's up next!" Shirou yelled with impatience's shining through in his attempt to sound adult like. This got a chuckle out of Michael as he started to follow the left while Illya just made quick 'Hmph!' and followed shortly after.

The walk through the increasingly shadowy hall was a silent affair for the most part with Michael listing off somethings he needed to do once they got out of the pyramid. All this came to an end when Shirou called out.

"Hey! I think I've found it!" Michael allowed a smile to form on his face at Shirou's lucky find. The smile didn't last however as it was just a bit too dark to make out the drawing on the wall Shirou was pointing at.

"Alright kids, I want you two to stay very close to me now. It's getting just a bit too dark and I'm about become a walking, talking, bullseye for anything that decides to chase us now." Michael calming informed the children as he created a small fire in the palm of his hand. With a new light source at hand, Michael found himself blink in surprise at a very large tile with an old English bakery on it.

"Okay then, Illya what's next after the bakery?" Michael asked whilst eyeing the carving in front of him. Illya unraveled the map to see what the next instructions where, a quick nod of her head later and Illya had put the map back away before answering with.

"It said ' _Do push the bakery button_.'" Illya said with tinge of uncertainty.

"Do push the bakery button?" Michael repeated with a dry tone as he raised an eye brow at Illya. The questioning look Michael was giving her caused her to puff up her cheeks and pout at Michael.

"It said ' _Do push the bakery button_.' So just do it already!" Illya yelled with indignation, Michael sporting a rather amused grin did nothing to help her mood. With one quick push, the carving of the bakery made a very loud ' **CLICK!** ' and then much to Michael's horror, started to go back even further at an alarming speed.

The resounding rumble that was drawing closer caused Michael to shot Illya a brief look of surprise. Illya didn't see this look as she was busy looking at the map to see what she read wrong, only for the colour to drain out of her face as she read out loud what had just appeared on the map.

"W-whoops… That was a typo on my p-part… The do was meant to be read as DON'T!" Illya screamed that last part in hysterical rage. This didn't last as she once again found herself resting on Michael's back along with Shirou.

"OKAY LET'S GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE-!" Whatever Michael had been about to say was cut off as a large blob of what looked to be strawberry jam fell by their side. Much to Michael's continued horror, the roof behind them collapsed to reveal a torrent of strawberry jam rushing towards them.

"I'll NOT HAVE MY TOMBSTONE READ DEATH BY JAM DAMN IT!" Michael yelled in his mad dash to safety, briefly forgetting about his two passengers. This is rather unfortunate because Illya was a bit too shaken up as well to read the next instructions on the map, the ones that would've warned him not to step on the yellow coloured tiles.

 ** _CRACK!_**

Michael felt the blood drain from his face as the exact same sound repeated as he ran over the other yellow tiles. His misfortune revealed itself by way of panels in the walls opening up and unleashing multiple streams of custard that began to fill the entire hall with the strawberry jam still nipping at the trio's heels.

"OH COME ON! WHAT IS THIS?! DEATH BY DESSERT!" Any further hysteria from Michael was cut off by the children screaming once more. With his mind in a somewhat better place, Michael did the only he could think of to save their collective hides from the deadly jam and custard.

"Illya! ILLYA!" Hearing her name shouted at her brought the young lady back to the world around her. After a quick glance at Michael she promptly brought out the map once more.

"I-It's another warning! Avoid the beams of light coming up otherwise we'll be forced to dodge… Biscuit spears?" That last part confused everyone present; it even brought Shirou out of his screaming session.

"Don't question it! Just keep an eye out for the next instructions!" Illya nodded at the instructions Michael gave her but paused for a moment when she noticed that his breath was starting to become ragged.

"Mister Michael what's wrong?" Shirou was the first to speak his concerns, earning himself a surprised look from Illya and a weak grin from Michael.

"Don't worry about me for now you two, just feeling the burn is all." Michael felt the grin slip off his face as he started zig zag around the lights shinning down in the hall. Illya's concern for Michael increased two-fold as the next instructions came into being.

"It says ' **JUMP!** ' again!" Illya said with fear slipping into her voice, Michael couldn't hold back the grimace that came over his face but started to build up prana none the less. The gap started to come into view and children couldn't help but close their eyes. What came next was an unpleasant experience as the children felt Michael take off for the jump followed by the sound of flames boosting him and sending them soaring through the air. The feeling of the hitting ground got them to open up their eyes in a hurry. The children found themselves near the right wall, bruised but mostly unharmed.

"W-we made it!" Shirou cheered until he saw the state Michael was in, leaning on a nearby wall and from the looks of things barely sustaining their only light source.

"Mister Michael?" Illya didn't bother to hide her concern as she and her brother walked over to the exhausted Black Smith.

"It's… Woah boy… Give me… A minute… Or three…" Michael said between breaths, the looks of concern the kids where sending being the only reason he did the following act. With a shaky hand, Michael pushed himself off the wall and started to walk down the hall although he couldn't hide the exhaustion he currently felt.

"Come on… This pyramid can't have too much left… for us to explore." Michael shot the two children a grin. The walk this time was done almost entirely in silence because despite how hard he tried, Michael couldn't catch his breath as he was maintaining the flame in his hand.

Illya would also pip up every now and then to tell the boys what the next instructions were. She was being very careful to watch out for any typo's that would pop up. It happened three other times, much to Illya's ire.

Finally after what felt hours, the trio arrived at what could only be described as the final boss room, as the same oddly dressed man from before was sitting in what looked to be a wooden throne and in front of him. Well considering the wallet was glowing red and actively trying to warp the world around it, must have been Zelretch's wallet.

"GREETINGS!" The sudden shout caused the trio to jump a bit in surprise.

"I'm guessing you three are here to pick up Kischur's wallet?" Upon seeing the blank looks he was getting, he proceeded to switch to his acquaintance's other name.

"You lot probably know him as Zelretch." The resounding ' _ohhh_ ' he got caused him to laugh at how the man's first name wasn't even know.

"All right then, here's the wallet." The oddly dressed man threw said object at Michael who caught it with his free hand.

"Before you go, would you like some cheese?" The grin the man wore as he said this instantly put Michael on edge.

"Sure thing!" Apparently it failed to do so for the children however, Michael stared in horror as a giant slice of cheese conjured into being.

"HAHAHA! CHEESE FOR EVERYONE!" The giant cheese slice than unleashed a mighty roar that caused the trio to scream. The trio was about to make a run for it when they noticed the monster cheese couldn't move, not for a lack of trying but more so it could only try and bit the trio from half way across the room.

"Huh, I forgot about that." The odd man admitted as he scratched his head and for the second time that day, Michael felt a wave of vindictiveness shot through him. With a little more effort than he would like to admit, Michael turned the single dancing flame in his hand into ragging torrent of heat that promptly melted their cheesy foe.

"NO! CHEESINGTON!" The odd man fell to his knees as he cried for his creation, Michael ignored the sight and turned to look at Illya. Being one step ahead, Illya was already reading the next instructions.

"It just says to hold onto you Michael." Illya said whilst ignoring the crying wreck of an elder behind her.

"So we get to go home now?" Shirou asked with wide eyes that might as well contain sparkles.

"Yep! So let's get going." The children quickly grabbed hold of Michael's legs and found the world around them start to distort once more.

"Oh good you're back." Only to jump in surprise due to Zelretch standing behind them on arrival.

"Thank you getting my wallet back you three and as I promised you Michael, you'll be fairly compensated." Before Michael could respond back, Zelretch quickly tossed a translator gem at him before he continued on.

"As for you young Illya, tonight is going to be a long one for you so **I suggest you take a nap in the meantime.** " Illya didn't even have a chance to reply as she found herself falling asleep at an unnatural rate. Shirou was the first to react to this as he ran towards his sister just in time to catch her before she hit the floor.

"Big sister? What'd you do to her you… You… YOU BIG MEANIE!" Shirou's outburst was just met with laughter from the mad bat. Shirou was about to put Illya down just so he could kick the laughing gentleman but was stopped as Michael put his hand onto Shirou's head.

"Shirou, calm down and don't worry. Your sister is fine, she just got put to sleep with a hypnosis trick okay mate?" Michael tried to sound reassuring but an undertone of panic betrayed his thoughts on the matter.

"Alright I'll take the young lady to her father, I'll get you the rest of your payment tomorrow Mr Wingdom." Zelretch said as he reached down to pick up Illya, Shirou didn't react… Violently at least but he was giving Zelretch an impressive glare that caused him to chuckle once more.

Once Zelretch was out of the room, Michael let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding back. He then looked down at Shirou only to wince a little when he saw the tell-tale signs of crying start to set in on the little boy.

Swiftly swallowing the translator gem, Michael quickly took off to look for Maiya and found her sitting on the porch reading her latest book. Hearing Michael's footsteps draw closer to her, Maiya looked up to see the grim expression on Michael's face. A feeling of dread flooded Maiya's chest before she quickly shook them away and went to where Shirou was.

Michael sat himself down and let out a sigh when he heard Shirou start to cry in the room over. Trying to look on the brighter side of things, Michael remembered that young Luvia and good old Sebastion would be arriving tomorrow and he'd get the last bit of payment from Zelretch. Even if that turned out to be a prank, he could always sell it to a fan of Zelretch's, yeah life wasn't too bad for him. Just had to ignore the crying child in one room and the soon to be operated on child in another… And just like that, life was didn't seem so peachy anymore.

 _With Kiritsugu_

Anger wasn't an emotion he was unfamiliar with; no Kiritsugu had felt it enough times to know how to deal with it. Anger of this level however was new and if he had to admit, very intoxicating. Because right now he felt like he could over power the curse destroying his body and strangle Zelretch to the point where he could never undo the damage but, he knew better.

It was all an illusion brought forth by this anger and worry, that's why Kiritsugu went to Shirou first after making sure Illya was going to be okay. The sounds of his son crying didn't make it any easier to curb this feeling however.

With a deep breath, Kiritsugu opened the door Shirou and Maiya where currently in. Maiya sent Kiritsugu a look of understanding when she passed Shirou into Kiritsugu's arms. Taking a seat with Shirou now rest on his lap, Kiritsugu began to do a routine he had practically mastered with Illya.

"Shirou, what's wrong? What happened?" Kiritsugu's soft voice caused Shirou to look up him, even though he still had tears running down his face. Kiritsugu's gave Shirou a reassuring smile that caused the boy to grab hold of his father tighter and burry his head into his chest.

"Come on Shirou, you'll feel better if you tell me what's wrong." Kiritsugu murmured softly as he began to pat Shirou's back.

"W-well, first, big sister and m-me ate the morning snacks Mum put out for us b-b-but they weren't the snacks at all!" Shirou's voice was unsteady the whole time he was talking but Kiritsugu just hummed in agreement and nodded so Shirou could continue.

"T-then, then we found Mister Michael while we went looking for Mum and t-then we were falling and, and, then we were at this really weird door. Then we got inside and then all these things started to chase us!" Shirou's cohesion broke at the least bit, Kiritsugu just kept on comforting Shirou until he was ready to talk again.

"Was it really so scary Shirou?" A shake of the head was Shirou's answer to Kiritsugu's question which got a raised eyebrow from the adults present.

"I-I couldn't help! Michael was trying s-so hard and so was big sister! But I couldn't help! I couldn't run fast enough! I couldn't read the map!" Whatever else Shirou was trying to say just broke off into gibberish and sobbing.

Kiritsugu just sat in silence as he comforted Shirou, that was until Shirou spoke up again but with a noticeable lack of tears.

"I wish I was hero like you dad… Then I could've helped…" Shirou's words, even though they were quieter, seemed to ring out in the room louder than any shout Shirou could have made during his crying fit.

"A hero like me huh? It's a good dream to have Shirou but at the moment **why don't you have a nap?** " Kiritsugu's words caused the young boy to fall asleep in the man's arms. When Kiritsugu got up to walk away, Maiya got a brief look at the expression on Kiritsugu's face that she never thought she'd see. A look of wonderment was freely shown on Kiritsugu and it made Maiya's heart skip a beat.

 _'Kiritsugu, you're changing._ ' Maiya thought to herself with a whirl of emotion beating in her chest. Shaking her head clear of such things, Maiya got up and started to search for Zelretch. A feeling of what Maiya guessed was determination filled her as she mentally prepared herself to help in the operation Zelretch promised. The night was going to be a long one.

If anyone was near the Emiya house that night, the constant stream of bright and flashing lights would've convinced them to stay away for the rest of their conceivable lives. After all it isn't every day when the lights draw themselves into the house.

That's for another time however.

 **HELLO! Ladies and gentle and welcome to another chapter of The Sword and The Blacksmith.**

 **So yeah, it's been a while right? How have you been? Good? Where was I? Well I just finished my cert three course last year around Christmas time and I was like "Yeah alright, I'll start this up again." So good news all around! Except in the story, that's sad, Maybe.**

 **Anyway next time is setting up the last of the domino's to set off the finally 'what if' of the story and so if I may continue to ask a favor, please give some honest feedback. I can feel the rust in my writing and I'm like, blegh.**

 **So until next time ladies and gentlemen, I hope you have a lovely hot chocolate on hand with some biscuits or cookies to dunk with your drink. BYE BYE!**


	7. Chapter 7

-vii-

Things were looking up for Kiritsugu, Zelretch finished the operation with not a single complication and Illya's life was no longer bound to the time frame of the Holy Grail War. What's more, Michael was paid a hefty sum by Zelretch which Kiritsugu assumed would be spent on the man's new house. Mayia was also adding to his stress relief by working out plans and schedules with Sella for who got to use the kitchen and who had to do what chores. Perhaps the cherry on top of Kiritsugu's good mood was that Illya seemed to be warming up to Shirou as a little brother now, things were truly looking up.

"Dad! Please teach me magic!"

Kiritsugu should have known better by now. Taking a deep breath to help gather his thoughts, Kiritsugu looked Shirou in the eyes and said.

"No" It was firm, it was blunt, it was… Making Shirou puff up his cheeks, which was not what Kiritsugu expected to happen.

"Why not? Illya knows magic and so does mister Michael and Mum and, and, I think S-sell-selly…" Shirou trailed off slightly trying to say the maid's name much to the amusement to those around him.

"Do you mean Sella Shirou?" Kiritsugu asked with a smirk forming on his face.

"Yeah! They all know magic! So why can't I know magic!" Shriou's eyes seemed to shine with a steely determination, which was why Kiritsugu felt he needed to nip this childish want in the bud.

"Shirou, magic isn't what the movies and story books make it out to be. It's a dangerous secret that rarely brings about happiness, it may even harm you more than it would help you Shirou. That's why I don't want you to learn magic, not just for the sake of wanting to know because everyone else does." Shirou looked down at his feet where he seemed to be thinking, probably coming to a slow realisation that he shouldn't learn magic, good that was one problem that could have-

"Mum! Can you please teach me magic?" A small twitch occurred on Kiritsugu's left eyebrow at Shirou's stubbornness but it's was probably just a childish phase Shirou would go through for the next few days before getting distracted by something else.

 _~The Next Day~_

"Dad! Please teach me magic!" Shirou pleaded, seemingly forgetting yesterday's day's events. To kiritsugu's credit, his left eyebrow did not twitch at Shirou's repeated question, it was his left eye lid instead. Taking a deep breath to compose himself, Kiritsugu repeated what should have been the nail in the coffin to the argument.

"No." Kiritsugu suppressed another twitch when he saw Shirou turn to Maiya.

"You can't ask Maiya to teach you magic either Shirou." Ignoring the little whine Shirou made, Kiritsugu decided to turn his focus back to the green tea Maiya had made for him. This action was interrupted by a knock on the front door.

"Hey Kiritsugu! It's me Michael! I just thought you should know that Thomas's kid has moved in next door to you. Did you want to meet them or-" Before Michael could finish that sentence, Shirou interrupted him with the question of the day.

"Mister Michael! Can you please teach me magic?" The noise Kiritsugu heard come from the front door very much resembled that of a surprised duck, on the plus side Kiritsugu got a head start on getting up to stop Shirou this time.

~ _The Next Day… Again_ ~

"Dad can you-" Shirou didn't even get to finish the question before Kiritsugu said.

"No Shirou, I will not teach you magic." Not even a second later, Shirou looked to Maiya but was cut off once more by Kiritsugu.

"You can't ask Maiya or Michael either Shirou." Right on que, Shirou let out a little whine at his repeatedly foiled attempt to learn magic. With the morning routine done, Kiritsugu prepared himself for a more active day than usual. Even if he did have to force a straight face at how Thomas was able to set up a mansion and move his family there in the span of three days.

Having decided to make something of an effort, Kiritsugu got changed into a semi casual pair of pants and shoes, plus the only clean button up shirt available at the time, it was Hawaiian. So with a slump to his posture and a curse on his heart, Kiritsugu proceeded to ring his new neighbour's door bell. Moments later, Kiritsugu was greeted by a man who looked to be the perfect example of an aged butler, minus the elfish looking ears.

"Greetings Mister Emyia and welcome to the humbled abode of the Edfelt household." The polite greeting helped relieve Kiritsugu of some stress, maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

"My name is Sebastian Foret, although I believe you might already know that." The butler's glasses seemed to hide his eyes for spilt second but it happened so quickly Kiritsugu wasn't sure if was done on purpose or not.

With the polite introductions finished, Sebastian gave a quick tour of mansion. Insisting on showing off some area's like the guest rooms, the bathrooms, and the kitchen. On any other occasion this would have been normal, just a family butler showing pride in watching over the house and its inhabitants but Kiritsugu knew better. From what little he knew of the man, Sebastian was trusted enough to watch over the Edfelt heir and be kept up to date on Thomas's activities at all times.

Magi were secretive to a fault, rarely telling even the closest confidants of their current workings and outright lying to almost anyone else, conclusion? Sebastian was more than a loyal butler and that little tour before was his way of saying where he was allowed to go. The smile Sebastian sent Kiritsugu as he concluded the tour confirmed his suspicion. The smile held no warmth in it and he'd seen that same shark like expression on so many magi before.

"Now then, why don't we sit outside and enjoy a nice cup of tea. We have quite a selection at hand so please don't feel like you have to restrain yourself." Kiritsugu shook his head at maid that was waiting by the door with the tea cart and followed Sebastian outside. The backyard while most definitely bigger than most in japan, but was surprisingly small considering the size of the mansion. Lavish and colourful flowers and plants lined the fencing while the lawn appeared to be trimmed to perfection.

"It's still hard to believe that this was set up in just three days." Sebastian chuckled dryly at Kiritsugu's statement; both men knew that Mage Craft was heavily involved but saying so out loud meant defeat in the negotiations to come.

"Yes well, I would say it's just as unbelievable for you to hide from the Second Owner once she comes of age." Kiritsugu furrowed his brows at this, Sebastian must have been informed about his condition to a degree. So bringing up his ability to hid magic was irrelevant, subtext, he's talking about Illya but she will have Maiya, Sella, and Leysritt to help her unless… Illya wasn't what he was talking about. Best play along and see what the butler wants.

"I wouldn't consider that a problem, I've made some plan's just case but-" The smile on Sebastian was a red flag, he knew something that gave him an upper hand. It was trap and a good one at that, if he asks about the smile then it means Sebastian has superior knowledge and therefore, control over where these talks go. If the trap is left and Kiritsugu doesn't try and do anything about it, then ignorance is shown and swiftly manipulated thus resulting in Kiritsugu's defeat once more.

Sebastian can't have been too well informed though, Michael is savvy enough to not get played and he would've killed Thomas by now if he was the typical Magus. So what could Sebastian know that would give him the upper hand? A small smirk fought to crawl its way onto Kiritsugu's lips as the answer dawned on him but the machine stayed strong and emotionless.

"Have you heard much from our guest?" Sebastian's smile lost some of its edge at this.

"Yes, chatty fellow isn't he?" The answer was polite and fairly neutral, all a front of course and Kiritsugu was set on tearing it down. That was until an idea started to form in Kiritsugu's mind and this time, he didn't fight the smirk that appeared on his face.

"Chatty is the polite way of saying it, the man's been living with us for only a few days and I'm already on edge." Kiritsugu sat up a little straighter as he said this, unlike Sebastian's answer which aimed to calm down any eaves droppers. Kiritsugu was inviting conflict, a gamble to be sure as it all leaned on whether or not Sebastian wanted Zelretch out of his hair as well.

"So the man's living with you? Interesting, I've heard of this type of situation a few times over the years. Personally I always encourage kicking the unwanted guest out." Success, Kiritsugu felt his heart start to race at the implication.

"He's a stubborn one though; I might need an extra pair of hands to get him out the door." This got Sebastian to nod but it was clear he was deep in thought at the offer, the small hum he made moments later was all Kiritsugu needed to hear. Just as both men were about to continue their little game of subtext bargaining, the sound of someone slurping a drink filled the air.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Just pretend I'm not here." Zelretch's grin was fake enough to be mistaken for plastic. Even if it wasn't, the mischievous intent filling the air would have be a good enough hint. Both Kiritsugu and Sebastian panicked and drew their concealed weapons and aimed at the trickster, laughter was their reward.

"Gentlemen please, we both know that won't work. Besides, don't you know it's considered rude to talk behind someone's back like this?" Zelretch said with a razor sharp grin and watched on with no small amount of pleasure as both men broke into a cold sweat.

"Master Zelretch, I must apologise for my… unbecoming behaviour just then." Sebastian seemed to force the words out of his mouth as he put his knives away. Kiritsugu followed suit but didn't bother with the false politeness, instead he tried to convey a message to Sebastian via nervous look and was pleasantly surprised to find the butler had the same idea in mind.

' _Truce'_

Both men sat back down at the table, both weary as Zelretch resembled a cat preparing to pounce just a little too well.

"Good, now that we're all seated I can get down to some business." The trickster said with a jovial grin, Kiritsugu frowned as Zelretch reached into his long coat, while Sebastian's eyebrows rose as Zelretch pulled out some lavish cards.

"What? Did you think I was actually keeping an eye on you two?" Zelretch snickered a little and succeeded in annoying the two men as he shot them a condescending look.

"No, I'm just here to hand out the invitations to a big party of mine. It has the time, date, and an alarm system to remind you it's coming up. Although I guess I should warn you to be a least somewhat magically prepared, my parties tend to get out hand you know?" Kiritsugu felt his stomach sink, that last part was aimed at him, it just had to be. Zelretch didn't seem the type to point out the obvious and it was unlikely that he made an exception now.

"Now I've got one for you Mister Emiya and another for you Mister Foret and, I've also got some for the children as well." Both men looked slightly clammy as they took the tickets from Zelretch.

"All right then! I've done all I wanted to do here, I'll see you at home Kiritsugu. I believe Shirou is cooking with Sella tonight, that'll be fun won't it?" Zelretch prattled on as he left the garden, leaving a heavy mood in his absence. Both men looked at the invitations in their hands as if they were cursed, which wouldn't be too out character with Zelretch if you annoyed him enough, but that wasn't the case this time. These where just simple lavishly designed invitations to a party; it was enough to raise the hair on the back of their necks.

"Perhaps… We should disperse with the usual negotiation tactics, Zelretch is looking to be a long term problem. One I think we'll need to work hand in hand to even survive." Sebatian let out a grim chuckle.

"He's planning something and it involves the children in our care." Kiritsugu said as he slid back into his Magus Killer persona. Sebastian hummed in acknowledgement before he called out to a nearby maid for some black tea.

The two men sat in a heavy silence as they waited for the beverage to arrive. It wasn't until Sebastian heaved a sigh that Kiritsugu bothered to pay attention to him again.

"According to this invitation, we have four years until the party Mister Emiya. Our options are limited and the stakes are high, do you have any idea's as to why Zelretch is doing this?" Sebastian's eyes where once again hidden by his glasses as the light hit it at just the right angle.

"No, Zelretch just showed up at our doorstep one day and forced himself into our care." Sebastian raised a finger at this, as if to protest.

"Then what about that light show that happened over your house? I saw it when I arrived with the construction crew to oversee the household progress." This brought Kiritsugu up short. It was the night when Zelretch operated on Illya but why would he… Sebastian sat up just straighter when Kiritsugu looked up at him.

"Zelretch wanted us to meet, he must of known when you'd arrive but why would he do that?" A cold feeling started to form in Kiritsugu's stomach. Because it was at that moment the two men realised just what they were to Zelretch. They were pawns, and being a pawn meant a more than likely chance of being disposable.

"Well, I'd say today has been… Unique." Sebastian seemed to force the word out of his mouth before continuing.

"However I must ask you to take your leave Mister Emiya. Important business that needs immediate attention and all that, I'm sure you understand." Sebastian said as he flashed Kiritsugu an icy smile.

"No, this was a pleasant visit. I'll see you again soon, I'm sure." Kiritsugu got up and quickly finished the usual pleasantries, he had something had to do.

 _~Later That Day~_

"Yeah it's been pretty crazy recently, still I got some cool stuff in the end and a new workshop so, that's neat I guess." Michael could almost see his father's worried face through his phone as he said that.

"Michael you were already pushing your luck back when you first met the Edfelts, don't you think that you're hanging around the wrong type of people. These are the type of people that Jenna warned me to stay away from if I was ever in the same area." Michael groaned at that little reminder, it was the same warning Jenna had given him when he first started to properly learn about magecraft.

"Look I'm not trying to ignore her advice, but this time it was very much out of my hands as to how this happened." The suspicious hum he received told exactly how his dad felt about that little fact.

"Well mostly out of my hands, look I'm not trying to go after an entire magus family like way back when. I'm not involved in a huge conspiracy and all I have to do is wait a year or two until a third generation family forgets about me." Before the conversation could continue, a knock on his guestroom door rung out.

"Looks like we'll have to chat a bit later, tell Lissa I said hi and that I'll visit soonish." A voice called out in the background of the call but Michael couldn't make it out.

"Jenna's wording when we get to meet your fiancée." Michael didn't need to be there in person to see his Dad's cocky smirk.

"Right, see you later Bruce." The sound of laughter burst through the phone before Michael hung up. With little shake of the head , Michael got and opened up his guest room door. Seeing Kiritsugu's face on the other side of the door caused Michael's heart to freeze up but his brain managed to remind him that no, he was not on Kiritsugu's shit list… Maybe.

"Sorry about the interruption Michael but I have a favour I need to ask you." Despite being slightly nervous around Kiritsugu still, Michael tried to keep the mood casual.

"Well it depends on what the favour is I guess." Seeing Kiritsugu nod thoughtfully did nothing to ease Michael's raising fears.

"Do you remember how Shirou asked you to teach him magic yesterday morning." Kiritsugu felt a stab of guilt as the colour drained away from Michael's face.

"No, dude no!" Some hysteria started to slip into Michael's voice.

"We've barely know each other for about three weeks at most! No I'm putting my foot down, what's going on. I refuse to get dragged into another stupid magi feud because of somebody else. I did not appreciate it when Thomas did it and I sure hell won't let you do it to me. So tell me what's happening." Michael crossed his arms and stared Kritsugu dead in the eye. Much to Michael's surprise however Kiritsugu sat down on the floor and started to talk.

It only took a few minutes for Kiritsugu to tell Michael what happened during his visit to Edfelt manor. The string of profanity that followed washed over Kiritsugu like a breeze in a field, he watched as Michael went about his minor breakdown with an almost clinical gaze. When Michael finally calmed down and started to catch his breath, Kiritsugu decided now would be the best time to speak up.

"Michael, I understand that this asking a lot and… that I probably won't be able to compensate you in any meaningful way but please. I don't want to risk teaching Shirou wrong, I know what to teach Illya and I could even help them both with battle strategy but."

"Enough, I get. I really get." Michael paused for brief second and let out a heavy sigh.

"I'll teach Shirou magic but YOU have to have to pay for whatever stock I'll need in smithery for the next two years." Michael didn't look at Kiritsugu as he said this, but despite the price tag attached to this little deal, Kiritsugu felt like a small weight had been lifted from his shoulder's.

"Thank you Michael." Kiritsugu said with an honest smile that seemed rather out of place on the man. Michael couldn't but feel bashfully at the sincere emotion Kiritsugu was displaying and tried to get things back to a more comfortable territory.

"Yeah well, I had a feeling if I refused you'd probably kill me so there's that too." Michael chuckled to try and lighten the mood.

"Well I'd wouldn't have killed you but I was planning on permanently immobilising you." Kiritsugu admitted with his usual monotone, Michael suddenly regretted trying to get the atmosphere back to casual.

"Well then! I'd best finish packing my stuff for my new home. Yep! Got to get it student friendly! Yup! Don't mind me!" Kiritsugu hid his little smirk as he watched Michael awkwardly exit the guest room. Still that uneasy felling he felt before with Zelretch, it was the same feeling he got back when he was preparing for the Fourth Holy Grail War. Unlike the war though, Kiritsugu couldn't perdict what Zelretch was going to do, all that was left now was to prepare his family and hope they'd make it through whatever Zelretch was brewing.

 _~One Week Later~_

Today was a bad day, Michael had decide. Granted it was only bad because it was the afternoon, which was when Shirou got out of school. Any other time on any other occasion, Michael would have thought that was a good thing but not today.

No today was the day Shirou started his training under him to become a proper Magi. Well proper in that he wouldn't kill himself by accident at the very least. A task that would take time effort and Michael had no doubt he'd be attached to the kid by the end of the first year, it also didn't help that he had the ever watchful Maiya and her new two best friends in fussing to keep off his back while doing this.

' _At least it won't all that bad though._ ' Michael allowed a small smile to form as he thought about his date for tonight, it would be nice to see Linda again once she was finished with work. The distinct sound of Sebastian chuckling brought Michael out from his day dreams.

"Thinking about a certain young lady again?" Sebastian asked innocently, as if he hadn't asked that same question so many times before.

"Yeah, yeah, quit it with teasing okay. We've got to set up the workshop so it'll be safe for Shirou." This just drew another chuckle from the old butler and it immediately dawned on Michael as to why. Making the workshop safe for Shirou had been among on the first things they did today.

"Alright, point to you Sebastian but I'm not telling you about tonight's date now." Sebastian sniffed primly at this but said nothing else. Although Michael didn't doubt for a second that Sebastian was just going to ask Linda instead.

The ringing of the entrance bell alertered the men to Shriou's presence. With excited eyes and looking like a wound up spring, the two men couldn't help but feel that this child really shouldn't be apart of their world. Still, a deals a deal and Michael didn't want to risk a sniper bullet to his… ego.

"Hi Mister Michael, hi Mister Sebastian! I'm ready for my first lesson." Shirou stated with such an earnest ethusiam that Michael was certain that he could see sparkles come off the lad. All in all it made Michael feel just that must worse about what today's little lesson entitled.

"Well it's good to see that you won't be lacking motivation at least. Come on in to the back Shirou, today's lesson is probably the one that you'll really try to forget." This just got a confused look from Shirou, causing Sebastian to chuckle awkwardly at how much of a stern lecture they'd get later from Maiya.

Shirou watched with rapture as Michael opened a thick wooden door that lead to a hallway. The wooden style of the shop out the front seemed to be replaced with concrete and metal. It was when Shirou entered what seemed to be the smithery that he realised how hot it was.

"Now I'm going to lay out some ground rules on how we're going about this. First, no trying any magecraft without adult super vision. Don't think we won't catch you trying without us either boyo, using magecraft emits energy and all the adults in your life know how to sense it. We're even allowing Sella to keep an eye on you at school." The small 'Tch' sound that came from Shirou remind both men there that he was still just a young boy.

"Second, no telling your friends about this. It'll put them in danger and it'll put us in danger, I'll tell you a bit more about this rule later on Shirou but please, follow this rule okay?" Michael didn't quite breath a sigh of relief at this, for all he knew Shirou could blab to a kid that happened to ask him what he did this afternoon.

"And rule number three. You must always keep in mind that to be a mage is to walk along side death." Michael frowned as Shirou just looked at him with confusion, it was natural response after all. What he just said was cryptic to some degree and Shirou was only five years old.

"I guess what I'm trying to tell you is using magic is very dangerous Shirou, using a spell wrong could cripple you for life and that's if you're lucky. Are you sure you still want to learn magecraft? There's plenty of other things you could learn that are just as fantastic."Shirou shook his head, Michael didn't need to have magic to see the burning determination behind those almost gold coloured eyes.

"Yeah, didn't think so. In that case lets get started, you're going to have to take of your shirt for this Shirou." This caught Shirou off guard, in fact the only thing he could say about this was.

"Eh?" The sight of Sebastian putting on some gloves and his glasses flashing menacingly sent a shiver of fear down Shirou's spine.

"Today we're going to be activating your magic circuits… You'll probably also hate us for the next few hours so yeah." Michael shot Shirou resigned look. The following night Shirou did indeed think mean thoughts about Michael and Sebastian. He did take some comfort in seeing the pair beaten up a bit by his Mum though, apparently Dad forgot to tell her about this.

 **BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!**

 _But I'm not dead yet!_

 **Hello ladies and gentlemen! Welcome back to another chapter of The Sword and the Blacksmith.**

 **Skipping the usual** " _Why I was late_ **" stuff because honestly that doesn't matter. So here is some stuff that's going to change for this story, I'll try and upload a new chapter every week and a half. Also, expect smaller word counts for non- action set pieces. Lastly, it's good to be back and with another story coming around the corner too!**

 **So until next time ladies and gentlemen, I hope you have a lovely hot chocolate on hand with some biscuits or cookies to dunk with your drink. BYE BYE!**


	8. Chapter 8

-viii-

This wasn't something she had counted on admittedly, Illya thought as she stood in front of the ravenous horde.

"Alright everyone! Today we have a new student joining us." The teacher said while very clearly ignoring the growing darkness in front of her.

"Please introduce yourself." Oh, the teacher was apart of this grand monster. That would explain her ability to ignore such blatant evil. So with great courage? Illya took a deep breath and introduced herself.

The response she got was

"HOW DO YOU HAVE SUCH WHITE HAIR?!"

Informative.

Illya could tell that her first day of school was going to be a disaster but not to this level! It only got worse when the lunch bell rung. Her desk was flooded with people before she could even think about running away.

"Where do you come from?"

"Did you dye your hair that way?"

"Why'd you move here?"

"Do you like sweets?"

The bombardment of questions just seemed to go on and on. Until her savior arrived!

In the form of a couple of idiots.

"Hey! Back away, you want the scoop on this girl! Save it for when I finish interviewing her!" The sea of gossipy children parted as Nanami Moriyama released a dark wave of intent towards Illya.

"Nanami, your intent is leaking." A tanned boy with blond hair pointed at the dark clouds spewing forth from the girl.

"Well it's not so bad, I mean if we can figure out how she does it we can finally become Gumdams Daiki!" Another boy with similar features to the first said with a shinning smile and a solid thumbs up.

"Okay how'd you break into Dad coffee supply AGAIN Toma!" Daiki roared at his brother, Illya watched on in stunned horror as the trio scared away the curious crowd with their chatter.

"Move aside boys! Nanami's got a fresh scope ready for her!" The crazed reporter tried to shoulder her way past the brothers but Daki merely sidestepped her attempt and tripped her as she passed. Where he then proceeded to place her in an Arm Bar hold.

"Quick Toma! Find Ms Reina and tell her Nanami's gone into reporter mode again!" Toma snapped his brother a quick salute before he began to run out of the classroom.

"I'll never forget you sacrifice brother~!" Toma said through a stream of tears, Daki took exception to this.

"Why are you treating this like I'm sacrificing myself!" Any further complaints towards his brother were cut off as he heard the sounds of pencil meeting paper.

"HOW DID YOU GET OUT YOUR NOTE BOOK LIKE THIS?!" Nanami ignored Daki's question as she held Illya still with a look of endless hunger.

"Now Illya, do you mind if I call you Illya?" Nanami ignored Illya's desperate shaking of the head.

"Illya I'm going to be asking you so questions and you're going to give me some detailed answers, okay? Okay." The classroom door slammed open, just before Nanami could start her assau... Ahem, interview on Illya. Nanami started to sweet heavily as she felt a disapproving stare dig into her back.

"Nanami, what have I told you about assaulting students for your newspaper article." The icy words banished the feeling of foreboding coming from the arm locked girl. Nanami began to stutter out some form of excuse before the teacher cut her off.

"Detention, and I'll be supervising your work for the school newspaper for the rest of the year… Again." The teacher ignored Nanami as she laid on the ground with shattered spirits. She turned her attention over to Illya and gave her a warm smile.

"Hello there, I'm Ms Reina and I teach history here. What's your name?" Illya felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment, did she really look so scared? Still, Illya felt it would be impolite to not introduce herself, especially after she saved her from that depraved beast.

"I'm Illya Von Einzbern or if you'd like. Illya Von Emyia." Finishing off her little introduction with a quick bow, Illya looked back to see the teacher giving Nanami a rather icy look as the girl's hand twitched to her note book of doom.

"It's nice to meet you Illya." Ms Reina looked over at the boys that helped in saving Illya, Daki quickly caught on and lightly elbowed his brother who snapped back from a day dream.

"Hi there, I'm Daki Gakumazawa." The boy waved at Illya with a bright smile.

"And I'm his handsomer older brother!" Daki stomped on Toma's foot.

"His older brother!" Another stomp.

"His whipping boy!" Stomp!

"AGH! Fine! I'm Toma Gakumazawa! The younger brother!" Toma yelped out while massaging his heavily stomped foot.

"Good to see the Boke and Tsukkomi duo are still going strong." Nanami muttered as she got up from the floor, a quick glare from Ms Reina quickly changed her demeanor.

"AH! S-s-sorry about that! I'm Nanami Moriyama, chief and editor of the school newspaper but I hope to one day be a world famous journalist." Nanami suddenly seemed less like a demon given form and more like the glasses wearing school girl currently present. Illya was still uncertain if this was just a trap or not though.

"Nice to meet you all but… What happened just then? You were really scary." Illya asked with morbid curiosity. Nanami winced at the question but before she could answer, Toma and Daki put there arms around her shoulders with matching smug grins.

"That is what we call the Scoop Demon." Daki sung mockingly.

"She preys on the weird and clueless for her newspaper stories that all the girls in our year read but would never admit to actually doing so!" Toma said in an overly grandiose manner.

"Oh the horror!" Daki cried.

"Oh the gossip!" Toma Wept.

"Get off!" Nanami roared. The brothers were thrown off but landed gracefully, both shooting Nanami a smug look that only severed to piss her off even more. Before things could escalate even further, Ms Reina clapped her hands together and brought everyone's attention back to her.

"Alright boys that's enough, I think Nanami's learnt her lesson for today at least." She gave the trio a knowing look as it was obvious that the boys were going to go right back to teasing Nanami the moment she left them alone.

"Anyway there's still quite a bit of time before lunch ends so why don't you three help get Illya settled in. I'm sure she could use a friend or two right about now." Ms Reina held back a snicker as the children looked towards her in shock. Illya looked at her like she had just thrown her to a pack of wolves while Nanami and the brothers looked at her like she just revealed herself to be a con artist.

"Good! Alright everyone I'll see you during history, have a great lunch. Oh and remember Nanami, you have detention next break." Ms Reina quickly made her exit before the children had any time to argue. An awkward silence hung overhead for brief a moment before Illya decided to break the ice.

"So… Where do you guys usually hangout for lunch?" Illya asked with some hesitance.

"Oh well, we don't usual hangout together but I guess we could find a place to eat for lunch." Daki hedged the socially awkward proposal and got some reluctant nods of agreement.

The newly formed group made their way down to the school yard which was surprisingly empty, Illya looked around and found a nice shady area of trees. No chairs to sit on but you couldn't have everything.

"Let's sit over there." Illya pointed out the aforementioned area and began to make her way towards it with her new friends? Following not far behind. As everyone sat down and began to pull out their lunches , Nanami looked over at Illya with guilt and awkwardness rolled all into one expression.

"So, sorry about before. I can't really help myself sometimes when it comes to interesting news." Nanami laughed awkwardly at Illya's blank expression, the Moriyama brothers didn't help matters either.

"She's caused at least a dozen classroom shenanigans while chasing a story." Toma supplied with a helpful smile.

"THOSE WHERE JUSTIFIED!" Daki covered his ears at Nanami's over reaction.

"Yeah just admit you're crazy, it'll save everyone some time." Nanami scowled in response to this and with a huff, spat out.

"I'll admit that when you admit that your really just a living Boke and Tsukkomi act." The two proceeded to glare lighting bolts at each other, Illya sighed at this and decided to just focus on the home made lunch her brother made for her this morning.

Illya immediately decided that she had the most useful little brother. In her Bento box was a western style meal, with all her favorite vegetables mixed with some diced potatoes and salad dressing. On the other side of the box was a small selection of meats that Illya had recently come to like. A most useful little brother indeed.

Resisting the urge to drool, at least in public, Illya began to dig in to her meal.

 _GROWL~!_

Illya looked up to see that her three companions were staring intently at her lunch.

"Wow… Illya your mum must be an amazing cook to make something like this." Toma stated with awe and… Where those sparkles? Shaking away the optical illusion, Illya quickly corrected her new sorta maybe friend.

"Actually my little brother made this for me." A smug sort of pride welled up in Illya, that's right. Her little brothers cooking was all hers! Sometimes, when it was his turn to use the kitchen at least.

"Tch, Having such a useful brother like that. Lucky!" Toma said with a frown as he opened up his own bento.

"Keep talking like that and I won't make your lunch any more." Daki watched in clear amusement as his brother flipped expressions at his threat.

"Wow, your brother sounds almost on par with my own. Maybe they can have a cook off one day." Daki laughed at the false praise his brother heaped onto him. The banter continued on and soon even Nanami and Illya were playing along.

Eventually Illya even found herself laughing to the point of snorting, which after a brief moment of pause caused everyone to fall into a bigger fit of laughter. As the school day ended Illya waved off her new friends as they went their separate ways. Illya for once left school with a bit of a spring in her step. She definitely had some good news to brag about when she got home today.

 _~Emyia Residents~_

Mayia was… conflicted. Because of those helpful yet meddlesome maids, she once again found herself with nothing to do. Even worse was that while Kiritsugu was home, she didn't exactly have an activity she could do with him. Or at least an activity that Kiritsugu would be willing to do with her.

The man didn't want go out on walks all to often, he didn't really watch or read anything that wasn't the news either. She couldn't even take him to her new favorite coffee shop to pass the time because the young mistress would be home soon and Shirou would follow soon after.

So here she was, sitting at the dinning room table, bored. The sound of the kettle warming up did catch her attention though. When Mayia looked up she expected to find Sella.

Finding Leysritt staring back at her was something of a surprise.

"..." Leysritt said to Mayia with no emotion.

"Is there something I can help you with Leysritt?" Mayia found herself asking out of morbid curiosity. Leysritt tilted her head to the side, thinking deeply on the offer. After a solid thirty seconds Leysritt replied back with.

"Ah. Yes." Leysritt confirmed with all the enthusiasm as a chalkboard. Despite feeling slightly unprepared for this random event, Mayia got up and went into her mother mode.

"Okay, what do you want help with Leysritt." Mayia walked over to Leysritt and was pleasantly surprised at the quicker response time.

"I want to make tea." Leysritt posed dramatically as she said this. Mayia couldn't help but wonder if this was as enthusiastic as Leysritt could get. Saving that thought for later, Mayia nodded and set about teaching Leysritt.

"So what type of tea do you want to make Leysritt?" Mayia walked towards the cupboard where the different types of tea were stored. When she looked back, Leysritt was making the most unenthusiastic look of shock Mayia had ever seen.

"There's… More than one type?" Leysritt has discovered a brave new world.

Mayia has discovered a new type of emotion, bewilderment. Shoving the new emotion down, Mayia decide d to see how much Leysritt knew about making tea.

"Okay Leysritt, what do you do to make tea?" Mayia asked with a kind, motherly smile.

"First I boil some water." Mayia nodded her head at this, so far so good.

"Then I wait until Sella shows up and then the tea is done." The sound of the kettle boiling filled the room as Mayia experienced a lesser form of rage.

"Okay Leysritt, let's go over the basics of cooking." Mayia said in voice that was as smooth as honey but made Greenland look like a tropical resort. Leysritt must of picked up on the danger of this and tried to run away, Mayia's hand clamped down on her shoulder like an iron vice.

"Now let's sit while we learn okay." Mayia's poison sweet smile froze Leysritt in place.

"Nooooooooo." Leysritt's deadpan cry for help went unanswered in the Emyia residents. When Illya arrived home, she was greeted with the sight of Leysritt shivering in fear as she mechanically made tea that had both a relaxing and invigorating smell to it.

Illya decided that perhaps she should visit Shirou and see how his magic lessons are going. She quickly informed her Daddy of her plans and rushed out of the house before she found out about whatever happened to Leysritt.

Her bragging about new friends could wait.

 _~Michael's Store~_

If one where to ask about Michael's store, they would tell you it was on the edge of Miyama Town. It stood out but, sometimes people had a hard time locating it. People didn't think too much on it however as only sword nuts and people looking to commission something went searching for his store. However if the people who were searching for the store came together and shared stories, they would all notice that they had a rough time searching for the store at 3:30 sharp.

Illya arrived at the road where Michael's store should have been. Scanning the area to make sure no one was around, Illya started to channel some magic through her body. Just enough energy to send out a pulse that any half decent mage would be able to notice. Then, almost like the reality in front of her was a mere bubble, a hole in the air appeared for her. Smiling to herself Illya walked up to Michel's store and took a moment to laugh at the store name.

' _ **Flames of Old**_ ' was and always will be a silly name to Illya but she could at least appreciate the paint job on the sign. It wasn't a photo realistic type painting that you might see for some shop signs but, more like a flame you would see in animated fantasy film.

The entrance bell rung as Illya opened the front door and found Sebastian waiting for her behind the counter. With a polite bow Sebastian opened up the entrance to the back of the counter gestured for her to enter. Illya couldn't help but giggle at how similarly he and Sella's acted but kept that little thought to herself.

"Good evening Miss Illya, I most certainly didn't expect to see you here today." Sebastian beamed at Illya which she promptly returned.

"Well I wanted to see how Shirou's little lesson's were going. He was really grumpy yesterday so I wanted to see what you were doing to make my far too nice little brother so moody." Illya said faux innocently as she watched with glee at how Sebastian's face paled slightly from the memories of yesterday's beat down from Mayia.

"Y-yes well this lesson won't place Shirou in such a bad mood today, we just finished teaching him about how to use his magic circuits. So right now he should be working on his switch to activate his own. Perhaps the young lady would like to help with this process." Illya felt a surge of excitement pass through her at the thought of teaching Shirou, it must shown on her face as Sebastian quickly added on.

"With _heavy_ supervision from myself and Michael of course." Sebastian's amused smile made Illya huff but she didn't complain. Letting Sebastian guide her to the forge in the back, Illya winced slightly at the sudden increase in temperature but smiled at the sight of Shirou sitting in the center of the room with a look of deep concentration.

Just as she was about to go up and give Shirou a pleasant surprise, Sebastian held her still by placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Miss Illya, Shirou has been focusing on creating a switch to activate his magic circuits. You of all people should know that this isn't something to interrupt on a whim." Sebastian said with a stern look on his face. Illya nodded silently at this, showing a display of maturity not usual when a child her age was scolded like that, but what was happing in her head… Well.

' _Hey no fair! I was going to give Shirou a scare and watch him squirm for a bit! Fun ruiner! Mustachio monster!'_ Illya raged silently behind a blank expression, that's when she felt it. A small pulse of magical energy flicker into existence for a brief moment before weakening drastically a few seconds after. Until the feeling disappeared entirely.

"Gah!" Shirou fell onto his back and started to greedily drink in large amounts of air. The sound of Michael clapping filled the room as Illya just noticed him sitting up straight on a chair. Illya was very thankful that no was looking at her then, because she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed at not noticing that Michael was just sitting in an easy to spot corner of the room.

"Nice work Shirou! You only managed to activate your circuits for a few seconds but it's a good start. We'll take a quick break and then see if we can get you to turn on your magic circuits again." A disgruntled groan was the answer Michael got back from Shirou that got a quick chuckle out of the black smith.

"Glad to see you agree. Alright Sebastian, do you mind-Why do you have little Illya here?" Michael's question got Shirou to look up from his temporary place of rest. When he saw that Illya was there, a big smile stretched across his face.

"Big sis!" Wobbling up in the way only tired but determined children can do, he ran over to greet his sister.

"Illya! I doing it! I'm starting to do magic like you, Mum, dad." Shirou started to bombard his sister with all that he learned so far, Illya only picked up about ten percent of what he was saying but she couldn't say she entirely disliked the attention. Though she was gratefully when Michael came over to save her.

"Hey now boyo, give your sister some breathing room, eh. You can fill her in on what you learned once you get home okay? Now drink some water, you're sweating up a storm there." Shirou let a long suffering ' _fine~'_ at this and wonder over to Sebastian who was holding a water bottle for young Shirou.

"So what brings you our way little Miss Illya, I thought you would've been relaxing at home by now." Michael asked as he went over to a nearby work bench with some papers scattered about it.

"Oh! Ah, I was just bored and Daddy only teaches me magecraft during night so I thought I would see what you and Shirou were doing." Illya carefully repressed kept out the details of how she found Leysritt. If Michael noticed this he certainly didn't show it, instead he seemed deep in thought as he read over the notes on the table. Seeing the usually casual black smith focusing on something so intently got Illya curios, so she asked about it.

"Oh this? It's my next project for my line of armor and weapons I'm working on. I'll save you the mumbo jumbo that usual goes into this stuff and say it's a nice upgrade to the wares in my shop." Michael said somewhat distractedly as he started to jot down some new notes. That's when a memory from her most recent lesson with her Daddy came to mind.

"Mister Michael, shouldn't you be more careful of Mr Sebastian? I mean won't your magecraft become weaker if he knows about this?" This actually got Michael snort in amusement.

"Any other day that would be a very real concern for most Magi but… I'm not most Magi. The short answer as to why I'm not worried little Miss Illya is because I'm not technically working on Magecraft." Michael looked over at Illya with an amused smile on his face, her confusion must have been readily apparent.

"Think of it like this, preforming Magecraft is a lot like making art. Everything you do to create any type of magecraft is effectively like per-paring a high class painting or a getting ready to make a drawing with lots of different techniques needed to complete it. So tell me, what do those two things have in common little miss, drawing and painting that is?" Illya thought it over for a good minute before she gave a shaky guess.

"They both need something to work on?" Michael smiled at Illya.

"Ding~ Ding~ Ding~ Ladies and gentleman we have a winner. What I do little Miss Illya is provide these." Michaeled rolled his eyes as he said this.

"Artist" He said while making air quotes with a noticeable sneer.

"With a canvas to do their work on. It doesn't sound too impressive but nobody can ever say I don't do good work at this. My finance doesn't count Sebastian, she'd poke fun of my work no matter what I did but she wouldn't really mean it." Michael shot Sebastian a wry grin over his shoulder while the butler seemed to find a very interesting bit of wall to look at.

"I don't have the faintest idea as to what you're talking about." Sebastian said primly.

"Sure you don't. Anyway, I'm trying to figure out a way to get my stock to be re usable for enchanting. One time use enchantment materials are very common on the market so I gotta up my game a bit." Illya was genuinely surprised at this, she didn't think Michael was the thoughtful type.

"Do you need any help?" Illya frowned when Michael shook his head.

"Sorry little miss, but this is something I've got to work out by myself. That and we need to get back to Shirou's training." Michael sorted the scattered papers into one pill as he looked over to Shirou who looked as ready as ever to get back into training. Illya had to hide a chuckle at her little brother's stubbornness, at this rate he would need a piggy back ride home.

"Alright Shirou, I want you to remember that image or feeling when you activated your circuits." Shirou closed his eyes as Michael gave him instructions.

"It has to come to you as easily as saying hello or good-bye, so when I say _go._ That's when I want you to activate your circuits again, ready." Michael watched as Shirou slowly tensed his body.

"GO!" Shirou jumped at the sudden shout but didn't open his eyes. His mind shaping and forming that image in his mind. The hammer of a gun slamming down with such force and speed that Shirou could have sworn that it was right by his ear.

Sebastian watched on with a critical eye while Michael sat with a hunch as they waited for that same small burst of energy. The sudden spark of energy that filled the room brought a small to their faces. Shirou's last burst of energy was certainly bigger but that was to be expected, the achievement here for both men was that Shirou had found his switch to his circuits.

Just like before, the energy quickly faded into the air and Shirou flopped onto his back and was gasping for breath. Sebastian helped him up off the floor while Michael passed Shirou a nearby towel.

"Not bad Shirou, not bad at all. That's all the easy stuff done at least, from here on out it'll be more of what I'll be teaching you and what you want to learn personally. However don't think we're not going to be practising turning on and off your magic circuits boyo, because that ain't happening." Michael smiled slightly when Shirou groaned back with a whinny tone. Shaking his head softly, Michael looked over to Sebastian.

"I think that's enough for today, let's take down the bounded field and greet the customers that'll be wondering by soon." Sebastian nodded to him once he finished setting Shirou up safely on a chair. Illya watched as Sebastian walked over to a wall next to the forge, once invisible ruins lit up with an orange glow. A few quick hand motions and one small german phrase later, a ripple fell through the air. Almost as if a see through curtain just fell to the fall.

"Thanks Sebastian, I'll close up a little early today so we can get these two home at a reasonable hour."

"A fine plan, truly a rarity from one such as yourself." Michael waved Sebastian's sass off and walked out to the front counter. Much to his surprise, some was already waiting in the shop.

"Oh, hello! Sorry about the wait, I had a bit of work that needed tending to in the back. How may I help you this afternoon?" Michael watched as the blond man turned to look at him, a chill washed over Michael as the hair on him rose up in fear.

It should be noted that all Magus have a specific way to sense or track magic, these are almost always through the five senses. Michael sensed magic through feel and what he felt right now was something beyond human.

"I can tell by that look on your face that you've recognized me in some form." The blond chuckled lightly at Michael's sudden shivering.

"That's good, after all." The blond looked at Michael dead in the eye, those ruby red eyes held him in place and froze whatever cry for help he had.

"A mongrel should fear and respect their king." Gilgamesh would accept nothing less.

 _ **HAHAHAHAHA! Oh man, is this how it feels? Oh I love being on the other side of this. Hm? What's that about not following the schedule? I HAVEN'T THE FAINTEST IDEA AS TO WHAT YOU MEAN! Jokes aside, sorry for the wait. Juggling videos and story writing isn't an easy task.**_

 _ **Until next time ladies and gentlemen, I hope you have a lovely hot chocolate on hand with some biscuits or cookies to dunk with your drink. BYE BYE.**_


	9. Chapter 9

-ix-

Michael had felt fear before, it was a natural response to harmful situations and the like. Totally normal for a normal sort like himself. What was keeping him paralyzed at the moment, it was something a little more then fear.

What stood before him was not human. No actually, it would better to say that it was more than human. It even had a familiar feeling about it. Then it smiled and what a smile it was, like a beam of sunlight breaking through a heavy storm. A shiver ran down Michael spin as he remembered something, back when he was first getting involved in the insanity of the moonlit world.

Back when he bumped into someone who should never have even know about his existence, the Queen of the Clock tower. He bumped into her and instead of the immediate death this action should have brought him. Michael was shown her smile and just like now, it was like seeing a beam of sunlight break through a heavy storm.

Royalty

When the thought popped into Michael's head he knew. What was standing before him was royalty of the highest calibre… And he had somehow caught it's attention. Michael eloquently summed up his situation in one thought.

' _Fuck!'_ -Signed Michael Wingdom, he ate the red gummy bear.

"Mister Michael, I just remembered that Kir-!" Whatever Sebastian was going to say was silenced as Gilgamesh turned his gaze over to him. The Golden King gave him a once over and then looked back to Michael.

"So you two are the ones that moved here. For Magi of your time, you don't seem to be total failures." The words seemed to have a smoothness to them that made both Michael and Sebastian feel relaxed. It only took a second for both men to notice this and become concerned.

"Uh… Thank you. My apologies about before, you overwhelmed me with your… everything." Michael tried to not sound awkward as he desperately fought the urge to have a mental breakdown due to the pure power this King emitted.

"Ho? You actually apologized for that slight? Well done mongrel, you've just earned my mercy but." The smile on his lips disappeared.

"You'll not receive the same mercy twice, make sure it doesn't happen again." The storm rumbled to Michael who was currently regretting his life choices. Both men tensed as the King made his way to the counter. Sebastian quickly opened up the entrance for the King which earned him a small smile.

"Well, well, you two actually know how to show respect to a king. Maybe you'll both live to see the night sky." Gilgamesh trailed off as he walked to the workshop entrance. Both Michael and Sebastian followed quickly behind but made sure to keep their distance from the King. The air seemed to grow cold once Gilgamesh reached the end of the hallway.

"Now isn't this a surprise. It's a little meat puppet in the making and…" Gilgamesh's eyes lingered on Shirou, the poor boy felt goosebumps appear and the hair on the back of his neck prickled.

"Well now, I'll have to keep an eye on you." Everyone in the room felt like something had just layered the air, like a promise that world itself took notice of. Gilgamesh turned back to Michael and Sebastian, a small amused smirk appeared on his face.

"This is a most pleasant surprise indeed, I've found two mongrels that understand their place before me." Michael felt his heart pound that much faster in his chest while Sebastian held back a shiver of fear.

"A unexpected curiosity in that boy there." Shriou paled and began to sweat under the powerful gaze.

"Finally, the little meat puppet who reminds all too much of that filthy mongrel who took my beloved Saber from me." Gilgamesh didn't raise his voice, he didn't fill the air with his power, all he did was drop the little smirk on his face and yet. The unbearably hot room was suddenly cold, dangerously so.

Sebastian was the first to act, clutching his hands together to hid his new found tremble and then cleared his throat politely in that way only old butlers can.

"If I may be so bold as to ask, what do you plan to do now that you've found us?" The question hung in the air for a moment before the small smirk returned.

"My first thought was to simply do away with you all, having so many magi in one town would be quite the eyesore. Yet because of your presence I've found two wonderful opportunities." The small smirk grew into wide grin.

"I think I shall pay the owner of this little meat puppet a visit." A warm chuckle left his mouth after he said this. It didn't match that bloodthirsty look at all.

"You lot, come along and watch as you witness what happens to those that cross their king." Gilgamesh commanded with a small flourish and began to leave the room, Sebastian looked at Michael with panic in his eyes.

"Do you have anyway to contact Kiritsugu discreetly?" Sebastian knew he was grasping at straws with that question, so he didn't sigh when Michael shook his head. The small group followed Gilgamesh out of the workshop but just before Shirou and Illya left the hall, Michael quickly kneeled down beside them.

"Kids listen closely, when we get back to your home. Try and find a way to get Zelretch's attention. It can be loud, outrageous, and maybe even dangerous but you have to find him, the jerk is probably our only way out of this mess alive." The children nodded and quickly caught back up with Gilgamesh.

The trek back home was tense, with Gilgamesh barking the occasional order or asking for directions. Michael was sure there were quite a few times where the Gold King pondered killing them just out of impatience but were spared at the last second.

The walk couldn't last forever though and within a few minutes, they arrived at the kids front door. A vicious smile made it's way onto Gilgamesh's face as he walked up to the front door, then the air rippled gold.

The group behind Gilgamesh watched on with different levels of fear and fascination as the Gold King called forth a spear from his armoury. Michael looked on in awe at the craftsmanship. Shirou stared, entranced by it's design. Sebastian shivered at the power and Illya. Poor little Illya watched as the spear destroyed her home.

 _BOOM!_

The bounded field around the house flashed to life, shielding innocents from the event taking place, Kiritsugu and Mayia rushed to where front part of the house used to be. Only to freeze as they saw who was standing in front of them. The maids came running out last but soon stopped in place as they saw their masters shivering in fear.

"I've found you mongrel. You'll pay dearly for taking away my prize and I'll make sure you suffer more than that pathetic curse could ever cause you." Gilgamesh sneered but took a small amount of satisfaction in watching the curse throb to life for that brief moment to cause Kiritsugu pain.

"This is the price for DEFYING YOUR KING!" Gilgamesh roared as he unleashed a small barrage of Noble Phantasms at Kiritsugu. No one had time to react as the legends shot forth, aiming to end the broken man. Well almost no one.

 _Clap! Clap! Clap!_

"Bravo! Bravo! That was quite the speech your majesty, I felt you meant every word of that speech. Every. Word. It was quite the sight." Zelretch smiled as he walked towards the group and took a particular glee in watching Gilgamesh's eyebrows raise in fascination. Although stopping those Noble Phantasms mid flight also tickled his funny bone.

"A Wizard, I was under the impression that you lot were lost to time." It was Gilgamesh's genuine surprise that got a chuckle from Zelretch.

"I'm sure some would argue that's still true in some cases, they never stick around for long though." Zelretch smiled with a certain sadistic glee as the house around them repaired itself, Gilgamesh watched the process unfold with a look of amusement.

"Still it's rather rude to attack someone's home like that." Zelretch's ever present smile dropped a fraction.

"Let us take this somewhere more fitting for men such as our selves." The mad bat taped his cane on the ground and like that. The world they stood in was that of mirrors and reflections. Beautiful in it's own way but horrifying in so many others. Perfect for two such as them.

"Before we get started do you mind if we have a quick chat?" The question caused Gilgamesh to raise his eyebrow a fraction.

"Oh don't think I'm stalling, trust me when I say I've been wanting to fight you for a long time Gilgamesh." Zelretch said with a frown, Gilgamesh smiled and gestured for him to talk.

"Thank you! I've been oh so curious as to how an encounter between us would go but the one thing I've always wondered about you is, why?" Zelretch point his cane towards Gilgamesh with a dramatic flair.

"I'm tempted to ask if you know how many times you've been responsible for the end of humanity but I doubt you care." Zelretch's eyes narrowed as Gilgamesh let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Is this what this about? I guess that holy grail does come in handy if its fulfilled my plans in a number of parallel worlds." Gilgamesh had a contemplative look, the kind you'd see on a business man who was embarking on a risky venture. Zelretch grunted at the king's flippancy but continued on.

"Tch! That clairvoyance of yours is a right pain, I don't even need to guess what your doing right now. You're looking at all the worlds that catch your fancy but! I want you to answer me one thing before we start." Gilgamesh focused back onto Zelretch with a calm smile.

"Why! Do you insist on filling the world with that corrupted evil? Because if it's to make humanity stronger. Then you could achieve the same effect by conquering the world once more, so why? Why all the death and destruction? Just why?" Gilgamesh began to chuckle and then he just laughed, howled even. The type of laughter you hear when someone tells a great joke to the perfect audience, but then he stopped.

"This is why I always enjoy meeting wizards." Gilgamesh muttered to himself before focusing back onto Zelretch.

"You're very close to the answer already wizard but I shall indulge you just this once in honour of being a beacon of success in a time of mediocrity and failure. My plan to use the grail is not just to test humanity's strength. It's to cull the useless herd that slow and clog humanity's progress." Any traces of humour in Gilgamesh's voice vanished as he continued on.

"The humans of today on average can achieve so much more than in the past. The stars are in their reach and yet here they are being weighed down by husks of flesh that somehow manage to draw breath. They're content with being nameless, they're content with milling about and endlessly consuming. These failures are a stain on humanity, even the most used whore in Babylon had more pride than these failures." A strange stillness appeared in the air when Gilgamesh stopped talking.

"That is why I will empty the tainted grail onto the world. The strong will survive and join my kingdom while the weak and useless will die as they should. I believe I've answered your question wizard. You need hold back your rage any longer." Zelretch replied promptly.

"Good." Then the whole world shattered. Fragments of reality crashing down all for the sake of killing the Golden King, it only earned a small smile from him instead. Gilgamesh hopped and walked among the falling reality with an unnatural ease, almost as if he knew where would be the safest spot to move.

Zelretch watched on silently, waiting for Gilgamesh to attack. The King did not disappoint, reality rippled with gold as the Gates of Babylon opened a crack. Four weapons of legend shot forth in an attempt to end Zelretch but just as before, the projectiles froze mid-air. Gilgamesh's calm gaze flickered with anger for a spilt second before he called forth more weaponry.

The area around them slowly but surely started to change as the weaponry Gilgamesh had called forth never struck Zelretch, each and everyone stopped just before striking and hung in mid-air. Gilgamesh did not appreciate this.

"Such a cheap trick, you've surrounded yourself in a separate dimension to prevent anything from reaching you." Gilgamesh said with just a hint of distaste, Zelretch smiled smugly in response.

"Do not underestimate me Wizard." Gilgamesh made a small gesture with his hand and opened the Gates of Babylon wider and watched with sadistic glee as Zelretch dodge the new barrage of weaponry. Zelretch looked at the area where he had been standing and saw the summoned weaponry vanish into a gold mist before dodging an unfair amount of fire power.

The mirror like ground shattered upon each new impact. Gilgamesh frowned when Zelretch stopped dodging. Just as a new barrage was about to hit Zelretch, the mad bat slammed his cane down with a brief flair of light revealing the sphere he was standing in.

Unlike before where the projectiles froze mid air, the incoming blast looked as if it entered a pool of water. Only to reappear behind Zelretch and keep on flying. The two combatants stared each other down for a brief moment before Zelretch did something peculiar.

Shifting his grip, Zelretch began to hold his cane like a sword. Gilgamesh rose an eyebrow at this before seeing fragments of glass like reality surround the cane till it resembled a practically _fabulous_ sword.

Grunting in annoyance at my description, Zelretch charged towards Gilgamesh. The storm of weapons flying towards him did nothing as they entered that same water like bubble only to reappear behind the charging wizard.

Seeing that his rain of weaponry was having no effect, Gilgamesh pulled out a sword from his armoury and met the charging wizard with a swing of his own blade.

The shattering sound rung out and Zelretch watched with glee as Gilgamesh's eyes widened with shock. Hopping away with a small fire of weaponry to cover his escape, Gilgamesh watched as Zelretch dodge away from his attack.

' _I wonder if it's that simple,'_

Suppressing an urge to smile, Gilgamesh charged at Zelretch with another sword in hand while also making sure to keep firing weapons from his armoury. Zelretch shattered the sword like before and jumped away just the same. Gilgamesh didn't resist the urge to smile this time.

Grabbing one of the stronger blades from his arsenal, Gilgamesh let the storm of weapons grow as he charged the vampire. Zelretch however was no fool and just like before, he slammed down his reality covered cane into the ground.

The invisible bubble that surrounded him turned red, and exploded. A swear escaped Gilgamesh as he called forth an array of shields to protect him. The glass reality cracked as the explosion didn't stop, it was then that Gilgamesh realised it wasn't an explosion but one of the most powerful fire spells he'd ever seen.

It brought a smile to the King's face as he brought forth another shield. Gilgamesh stepped out from behind the protective wall and watched as the flames where reduced to nothing before the shield of Svalinn. Gilgamesh really couldn't help but smile, his heart was even to start race slightly thanks to this wizard.

"Magnificent! You truly are a shining example of wizards, I dare say you could even put some gods of old to shame with your power. In honour of your strength I shall grant you the privilege of seeing my battle attire!" A gold dust rose up and around Gilgamesh, clinging to his from before dispersing to reveal a golden amour.

Zelretch stopped the fire blast and with the look of boredom, tapped his cane onto the glass like ground once more. The ground around Gilgamesh broke apart before he could react, the look of shock was very satisfying.

"I'll let you out in a few days kingy! Enjoy!" Zelretch made sure to keep a faux politeness to his voice, just as a final barb. It's one thing getting taunted by a clearly exhausted victor, it's a very different thing to be taunted by someone who clearly had enough energy to spear as they kicked your ass.

Maybe that was what set Gilgamesh off enough to do what most consider impossible.

 _ **CRASH!**_

Zelretch found himself backtracking to avoid the newly made hole in reality. A golden array of lines started to creep their way onto the glass like space and with it a true storm of swords, spears, staffs, arrows, daggers, wands. If it could hurt or injury, it was there and Zelretch felt that it was distinctly unfair that said storm was still growing larger.

"WIZARD!" Gilgamesh roared as he rose from the dimensional gap on a flying vehicle that had no rightful business being a thing of the past.

"I was willing to entertain this battle but if all you have are cheap tricks than I shall merely drown you in legends from ALL THE WORLDS AVAILABLE!" The Gates of Babylon opened wider than they had done in it's entire time in the modern age. Zelretch held back a swore as he realised something.

' _He's collecting treasures from parallel worlds!'_ Zelretch thought before he called forth the power of his other selves. Gilgamesh watched with mild interest as the old wire like man started to gain muscle and youth, so he responded in turn.

What was once a storm of weaponry could no longer be called such, not because Gilgamesh had stopped attacking or reduced the assault. It's because the term ' _storm_ ' could no longer describe what had to be a literal sky's worth of legends and might. All that, was aimed at the now buff Vampire. So Zelretch tried something new once more.

With a wave of his cane, Zelretch called forth glass like reflections of himself. What once was one wizard was suddenly two, then four, then eight, and so forth until sixty versions of Zelretch stood tall against the king.

"Get to work! We actually have a problem to deal with!" Zelretch barked at the copies while reshaping the reality surrounding his cane. Just as well since the sky of weapons started to fall. Ten Zelretchs wrapped the air with a reality that Zelretch had used many times over as shield, and buckled for a moment under the weight of the assault.

Twenty Zelretch turned their canes into weapons of various elements like wind, lighting, or fire and unleashed what can only be described as torrents of pure force and power, yet the sky was still filled with weapons and gold.

Twenty nine Zelretch saw the encroaching lines of gold and the spears that shot up through the ground and slammed down their canes. Forcing their power and authority back into the glass reality and yet they merely slowed the golden lines crawl.

The last Zelretch, he was recreating something special. Once upon a time Zelretch had to push back a reflection of the moon to stop all of humanity being wiped out in an instant.

' _Let's see how the king handles this!'_ Then with a mighty shout, Zelretch opened a new hole in reality and brought forth the same reflection that he once struggled against. The moon broke through the sky of weapons with ease and even out shine the golden glow coming from Gilgamesh's armoury.

Yet the king remained unfazed.

"Enkidu." Gilgamesh said with a cold detachment. Chains of gold appeared and once more Gilgamesh did what most would consider impossible. Around and around, the chains wrapped around the false moon, and yet it only slowed it's approach. A terrible sound filled the air as the legendary chains struggled against the mighty moon.

"It's a shame, if only you hadn't raised your hand against me. You would've been a most useful servant." Zelretch frowned at this, Gilgamesh truly meant what he had said. Then he saw it, the key to Gilgamesh's most feared weapon.

Zelretch spilt himself once more and soon another thirty reflections stood tall.

"Quickly now! We have to stop him!" At Zelretch's order, the reflections started to glow. With inhuman screeches, the reflections transformed into orbs of power. Reality cracked under their weight.

"FIRE!" The orbs of power launched forward through the sky, and meet walls and walls of shields, till the orbs were no more. Zelretch summed up his current situation quite nicely.

"Oh no..." For the first time in so many years, Zelretch felt himself break out into a cold sweat as the world rumbled with power.

"I must thank you wizard, I've never been able to let my dear Ea sing to its fullest because it would destroy my own world. Not even reality marbles could handle too much of Ea." A bloodthirsty smile broke out across his face.

"I look forward to the display." A terrible whirling sound filled the air as it gathered power. Zelretch's eyes widened at the growing power.

"Everyone! Help PUSH!" The Zelretchs complied. The slow moving moon started gain speed as it made it's way to Gilgamesh, Ea however. Ea was starting to gather stars for it's attack.

' _No'_ Zelretch realised.

' _He already gathered stars! What else could he-!'_ Zelretch saw the glass world, a place with no night sky, shine with entire galaxies that were spinning at speeds visible even from must be light years away.

Then it happened, Gilgamesh brought down his arm and Ea. The world cracked underneath the weight of the incoming attack, the moon that had so far been unstoppable, was starting to sway like a leaf before a tornado. Yet Zelretch still pushed. He and his reflections pushed against the stars just like they had pushed against the moon all those years ago.

Then the night sky met the moon. The two forces causing large cracks to appear in the world, the impact created ear shredding sound. The moon continued to push through the sky, while the sky started slip around the moon. It was truly a contest of wills to decide who would be hit first.

Let it be known however that Zelretch never enters such contests without a way to cheat.

As his reflections continued to push, Zelretch began to search through the parallel worlds looking for the one event in each one that could save his arse. Slowly but surely, as the sky of destruction drew closer, Zelretch started to pull fragments of those events to his side. Then he heard his reflections cry out in pain. It didn't take a genius to figure out why.

Looking up with a sense of dread, Zelretch watched as that once unstoppable moon broke apart into pieces and with it, his reflections broke apart too. Gilgamesh cried out something but Zelretch didn't pay it any mind as he wrapped himself in a bubble one last time.

Before the sky of destruction came crashing down, Gilgamesh smiled at his victory. So did Zelretch. In single moment, a word rung out through the world.

" _ **AVALON!"**_ A female voice cried out and a new golden light filled the air, until it too was covered in that all consuming sky. The impact wasn't something you exactly describe in detail, it pointless to use detail when the only appropriate description would be _**death**_.

 _ **Death**_ is what hit Zelretch and his glass world. It would be crushed like all other things before Ea and yet...

' _It's strange, why does this world still exist?'_ Gilgamesh thought absently as watched the dust settle.

"HAHAHAHA!" Gilgamesh flinched as he heard what should be a thoroughly atomised wizard. Still there he was, laughing without a care in world. In fact he even began clapping after several seconds of laughter.

"Your majesty! This has been some of the most fun I've had in years!" Zelretch said with a genuine smile on his face. Gilgamesh looked on warily but decided to halt his attack for just a moment.

"I have to agree wizard, despite your cheap tricks during this battle. It's still the most fun I've had in a long time. However only one of us may come out of this fight alive." Gilgamesh stated with a flourish of his hand.

"What if it didn't have to be that way." Zelretch's words dripped with temptation, Gilgamesh rose an eyebrow at the sudden offer.

"How would you like to join in on something very entertaining Gilgamesh? If you hear me out, I think we can put an end to our dispute in much more satisfying way." Zelretch held out his hand to Gilgamesh.

"Very well wizard, make your plea." The two share shark like smiles for a moment before Zelretch tapped his cane on the ground once more-

Oh? Oh! Alright Zelretch, I like this little plan of yours. I'll give you some space.

 _~Emyia Residents~_

It had been ten minutes since Zelretch warped both himself and Gilgamesh out of their home, and it had not been time wasted.

"Sebastian! How are those bonded fields looking?" Kiritsugu asked as he set up one of the more powerful and illegal guns in his possession.

"The ones outside the house won't be able to do anything useful but the ones we set up for the children are complete." Sebastian answered as he lined his jacket with as many knives as he could. Michael looked on as the pair plotted out their suicide attack against Gilgamesh. He personally felt it wasn't necessary because it was Zelretch.

Having been on the receiving end of that power made him doubtful that anything could truly kill him. Defeat, maybe on some lucky god's best day but even then. Michael wasn't sure if that highly improbable defeat would stick.

"Kiritsugu, all the outside traps have been set. I doubt the claymores will do much but it should give you time to set up some sort of offense." Mayia reported with that same clinical tone she used a few weeks ago. Kiritsugu nodded at this and then turned look at Michael, only for a flash of light to appear in the room.

"Annnnd we're back!" Zelretch chirped with a glee only tricksters were privy to. Everyone in the room froze as Gilgamesh looked away from Zelretch and gave them a once over. Kiritsugu felt a heavy weight descend on him as Gilgamesh locked eyes with him.

Kiritsugu saw a mix of emotions flash across the kings eyes. Anger, entertainment, impatience, and so on. It all played through the king's eyes until he was given, not so much a dismissive grunt, but a growl.

Unknown to the family, Gilgamesh and Zelretch were back in their more recognizable forms. The king walked out of the house with the same grace a high class model walked off the run way. With sass and style, lots of it.

"That was fun, he put up a good fight but I came out on top so you can put away all the guns and traps and start planning a feast for my well earned victory." This earned him some glares and reluctant nods from the people present.

That night, a small celebration was held for everyone managing to survive. The mood started out awkward but picked after Michael challenged Sebastian to spicy food contest, it was a tie. Then after that, some wine was brought out and the children where given a movie to watch.

The celebration lasted until two in the morning with only Zelretch still fully lucid. Still there was one thing everyone there shared for once. A wide genuine smile was shared by everyone for once.

If you would like to pretend the story ends here, I wouldn't blame you.

Because the next day was the start of a truly glorious ball of chaos. Then again, that isn't too hard to get when a certain twin tailed girl is involved.

 **Welcome back to another chapter of The Sword and The Blacksmith.**

 **I cannot begin to tell you how hard and fun it was to write the Zelretch VS Gilgamesh fight. Just because I had fun however doesn't mean I did all that well, so drop me a review to let me know how it was.**

 **Please don't just say it was good, that just tells me you like the story. It doesn't tell me anything else, at all. Also I'm pretty sure I'm the first to write this fight so WHOA! Yay for doing something original in a fan fiction as insane as mine!**

 **So until next time ladies and gentlemen, I hope you have a lovely hot chocolate on hand with some biscuits or cookies to dunk with your drink. BYE BYE!**


	10. Chapter 10

_**-**_ x-

Rin Tohsaka

Those who know her would describe her as distant, talented, beautiful, and kind.

Rin Tohsaka

Those who **KNOW** her would describe her as teasing, short tempered, useless with technology, and kind.

The Rin Tohsaka that is present in this story however is still seven years old, and reeling from the death and murder of her parents. Rin Tohsaka is still angry that a man she hates is now her legal guardian. Rin Tohsaka is now dealing with a soul crushing situation that no child should have to deal with, she's alone.

She puts on a smile for her friends in school but whenever she got home, that smile was replaced with a neutral look. Not happy, not sad, just numb… At least until Keira Kotomine came around, in which case. Rin was all frowns and scowls, but that is neither here nor there at the moment.

No, the scene we meet this version of Rin Tohsaka is during the afternoon.

Rin's footsteps seemed to echo as she walked home. The click clack of her school shoes ringing out as she got closer to the empty courtyard. What once was a well kept family garden was quickly becoming a barely maintained brown lawn. Some plant vines where even starting to make their way up the side of the walls of her house.

A dreary sight if you ever saw one. The gate screeched as it was opened, thanks to the newly forming rust. Rin didn't spare a moment to notice any of the new depressing details about her home. Once inside, Rin left her school shoes at the front door and began to make her way to the kitchen.

"Oh hello, I wasn't expecting you to be back so soon today." Zelretch said with an awkward chuckle as he pored himself a hot cup of tea. Rin responded appropriately.

"WHO ARE YOU! AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Rin screamed as she jumped away from the kitchen. Zelretch smiled and bowed towards Rin.

"My name is Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg but most people just call me Zelretch." That caused Rin to pause somewhat.

"R-really? Well then prove it." Rin folded her arms and tried to scowl at Zelretch, but just like Illya. She ended up looking more like a puffed up kitten. Zelretch merely nodded at the request as he put down his cup of tea and casually opened up a hole in space like he was pulling down a zipper. Rin's eyes bulged slightly at the casual display of power, but she was a Tohsaka damn it. She had to be brave.

"H-how do I know this isn't just some light based illusion?" Rin tried to sound skeptical but the quiet awe in her voice said otherwise. None the less, Zelretch played along and gestured over to the rip in space.

"If you walk over here, you'll see unlike a mirror, this is actually a hole connected to a parallel universe. One where the difference lays with you Miss Tohsaka." Zelretch's eyes danced with mischief, not literally of course that could only happen in specific types of worlds but getting back on track. Rin slowly walked towards the shimmering hole in the air but when she stood in front of it. Rin couldn't help but gasp slightly.

Standing in front of her wasn't a girl her age with say maybe red hair or a bigger nose. What was staring back at her was a boy who looked like a tinier version of her Dad, minus the facial hair.

"That can't be me." The two said in synch, catching both children off guard slightly.

"S/he's a boy/girl!" The two looked back at each other in surprise once more.

"That's the nature of the multiverse, it contains every path, every soul, and every possibility and impossibility you can and can't imagine." Zelretch then click his fingers and another hole appeared, showing an another version of Rin looking through a tear in space, their face also looking shocked.

This version of Rin held all the same facial features of the female Rin but her black skin told of a very different heritage. That's when Zelretch walked beside Rin and stood before the holes he made and just like Rin. A different version of him appeared in the holes. One female and the other a young man.

"People react to the discovery of the multiverse differently. Some people give up and indulge in all the physical pleasures that they can find, not caring about morality, not caring about connections. Because why should they? There's an infinity number of them, how could anything be important in front of infinity." The Zelretchs said in synch, causing all three Rin's to look down with tears welling up in there eyes at this cold truth.

"I personally disagree with this notion!" Zelretch stomped his cane on the ground, causing the Rins to look up at them.

"I see infinity and instead of finding myself valueless, I choose to learn. To take infinity and spread it around, to add impossibilities and probabilities. I choose to make my name a multiversal stamp of sorts. Are you trapped in another world? You're best bet's Zelretch, that sort of thing." Zelretch clicked his fingers once more and closed the holes in space.

"I once showed this same thing to your very great grandfather, curious man. Boisterous and friendly the one minute, only to be shouting furiously the next at a minor tease. Now that I think back on it, he might have been biploar." Zelretch's muttered that last part to himself before focusing back on Rin.

"Anyway, I didn't bring up your family's history just for nostalgia. I challenged your very great grandfather to recreate a crystal blade I left with him. Maybe you've seen it before Miss Tohsaka, sitting around your father's workshop perhaps?" Rin fidgeted a bit under the curious look Zelretch was giving her.

"I've seen it… Dad would always make sure to work on it every second week, until the Holy Grail War at least." Rin's shoulders slumped slightly at the reminder of her dad's death. Zelretch hummed in acknowledgement and sat back down at the kitchen bench resumed drinking his tea.

"It must be close to three hundred or four hundred years since I met your family Miss Tohsaka. If your family dedicated all of it's efforts into recreating the Jewel Sword then it probably would have been completed a few generations ago." Rin flinched at the assessment, but by doing so. She didn't see the happy smile on the mad bat's face.

"Good! I would've been terribly disappointed with you all if you just drooled over that little trick for who knows how many generations of your family. Of course I would also be disappointed if you didn't work on it at all. So you've struck a happy medium with what you've done." Zelretch rattled on like he was distracted but kept his focus on Rin, who was reacting to his mood swings rather well and rather predictably.

"Ah! Well… Uh… Thank you?" Rin managed to get out a reply despite her confusion at the powerful trickster. Zelretch grinned madly and stood up with a flourish.

"No! Thank you Miss Tohsaka, as a reward for you and your families hard work on that little project I assigned them all those years ago. I hereby invite you to my party!" Rin blinked as Zelretch offered her a rather lavish invitation card. Zelretch waited for Rin to finish reading the card, the incredulous look on her face was well worth the wait.

"I don't mean to be rude Mister Schwe Schwo Sch..." Rin blushed as Zelretch chuckled at how she was butchering his last name.

"Mister Zelretch is fine Miss Tohsaka." Zelretch said before taking another sip of his pipping hot tea.

"Right um… The date for this party is for three years from now." Rin pointed to the date on the card, which Zelretch just nodded his head at.

"Yep! The 15th of July! 1997! We'll have all sorts of guests coming around and I'll even have a present prepared for you as well! I can't have my sort of maybe future student come to something like this and NOT get a gift! It just wouldn't sit right with my sense of humour." Zelretch puffed out his chest and folded his arms at that last bit.

"Y-you mean sense of honor… Right?" Rin asked hesitantly and felt rather concerned as Zelretch nonchalantly added a half hearted.

"That too." Rather concerning indeed.

Zelretch then took a long sip of his tea, waiting to see if Rin would register what he said before. The look of shock that was slowly dawning on her face was a beautiful and hilarious thing to see. Before Rin could ask what he meant by her being his sort of maybe future student, Zelretch stood up. Downed the rest of his hot tea in one big swig, gently put down the tea cup, and started to make his way to the exit.

"Well it was nice to meet you Miss Tohsaka, oh and if I may offer you some advice. The Second Magic is, at the end of the day, just a really fancy way of asking for help. There are some rather good people living around here who could help you with your study of magecraft. Now I best be off, places to be. People to trick. That sort of thing." Zelretch bowed dramatically and ignored all the questions Rin was asking him.

"Wait! What did mean about people who could help me with my magic! Or, or that hint you gave! Wait Mister Zelretch." Rin ran after the old man who had his backed turned to her and reached out to grab his cape. Only for her hand to go through a cloud of colour that were on Zelretch at the time. Leaving Rin confused, slightly angry, but most depressing of all. Alone, Rin was alone once again.

With a sad sigh, Rin went back to her kitchen and started to make herself dinner. It was a lonely affair as usual but for some reason. Rin had a feeling that these lonely quite days weren't going to last, after all. If Zelretch was here, then surely something big was going to happen. It was a gut feeling to be sure, but Rin had a gut feeling about the Holy Grail War which she felt was pretty spot on to what happened.

These gut feelings would serve Rin well into her future.

 _~Emyia Residents~_

There were usually only four people at home for the Emyia family. These people being Kiritsugu, Mayia, Sella, Leysritt. Illya and Shirou were obviously at school, Zelretch did… Whatever he does when not at the house. While Michael and Sebastian lived in there respective homes, only visiting briefly to drop off Shirou or maybe visit for dinner.

This was a good thing as only three people were present for Kiritsugu's current suffering. The sound of retching filled the house as Sella stood behind Kiritsugu and tried ease his pain with as many healing or calming spells she could manage at the moment. Mayia could only watch on in horror as Kiritsugu's vomiting became more and more intense.

Even Leysritt looked uncomfortable as the toilet Kiritsugu was vomiting into started to gain a noticeable coat of blood as time went by. Once Kiritsugu finally stopped hurling, Sella started to reapply as many healing spells that she could manage. Kiritsugu didn't seem to gain any benefit from these attempts however, as his body was still trembling.

Sella shook her head and stepped out of the bathroom and let Leysritt pick up the cursed man. Perhaps it would be hilarious to see the normally stoic Kiritsugu be carried around bridal style but the situation was anything but funny. Mayia opened the door for Leysritt so she could put Kiritsugu back into his futon. Once he was safely tucked away, Mayia looked over to Sella.

"We need to examine his body, I can assist with some of the medical preparation but I won't be able help with any magecraft." Mayia didn't let her voice waver as she gave Sella the order, which the maid compiled with as she rushed off to grab whatever supplies she needed. However try as she might Mayia couldn't shake off a certain feeling of uselessness.

Many times in her career with Kiritsugu, she lamented not having magic circuits. It made everything harder, from performing medical check ups to remaining in stealth. The difference here was simple though, in those past situations. There was always a workaround of some sort.

Like observing how Kiritsugu's body reacted when he used magecraft and eventually working out a baseline of health. Or taking advantage of how much easier it was laying out traps that her enemies wouldn't notice because of their tracking spells. This time though, she really couldn't help. No workarounds, just a futile hope that Sella wouldn't give them a hopeless situation after she finished giving Kiritisugu a check-up.

Mayia waited with Leysritt in the dining room, with the only sound coming from Sella's magecraft and the clock on the wall. Finally Sella came out of Kiritsugu's room with a grim look on her face. Despite knowing the answer, Mayia asked.

"How is he?" Mayia watch as Sella sighed and seemed sag down towards the table.

"What I discovered is… Troubling to say the least. To be more precise, Kiritsugu will no longer be able to use his magic circuits. I suspect what Kiritsugu was vomiting up before was the physical attachments to his magic circuits. So physically, he's over the worst of the curse. Spiritually however that's where things start to get tricky." Sella rubbed her temples as she felt a headache from coming on.

"Now this is only a hypothesis but I suspect Kiritsugu will experience a couple of months of increased energy. Not enough to be comparable to a sugar rush but enough to be noticeable, then for the rest of his days. He'll experience a slow but steady decline in energy until… Well, it'll be comparable to a battery running out of power." Sella's explanation hung in the air as everyone tried to process the facts. Mayia took a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh before looking back at the two maids.

"Then I guess we have a few things to think about. First of all, do we tell Illya and Shirou about this?" Sella frowned at the question, even more so then before. Surprisingly, it was Leysritt who spoke up first.

"No, I don't think we should." Leysritt's soft voice seemed to echo in the room before Sella looked at her with a chilling glare.

"Why is that? Lady Illya has been through enough suffering as it is! To shock her with father's slow death without her knowing?! It's just much too cruel." Sella pointed accusingly at Leysritt but she remained unfazed.

"Sella, we have only been alive for about three years. Do you remember when it was just us? Just Master Kiritsugu and Lady Irisviel and Illya?" The question made Sella pause, but before she could work up her anger again, Leysritt continued.

"I remember how happy we all were. Then Irisviel gave us the details of the Holy Grail War and what that meant for us and them." Leysritt looked sad, despite her face not changing expressions.

"We still had about half a year of time before our masters really started to prepare for the war, but all those memories seem to have this shadow in them. Like I knew that all those happy times were just going to… Stop one day." Leysritt looked down at the table as she seemed to return to a memory.

"Leysritt." Sella tried to sound like her normal, strong willed self but Leysritt interrupted again.

"I didn't recognize those feels back then, but I believe I held… no hold a certain anger to both Kiritsugu and our former masters. For bringing us into this world, and giving us these people to protect. Only so that they may be sacrificed at a later date." Leysritt looked up from the table, only to see Mayia looking at her with a cold gaze.

"And do you plan on acting on this anger of yours?" Mayia asked in a chillingly calm voice that did nothing to hide her murderous intent. Leysritt shook her head but not out of fear.

"No, Lady Illya loves her father more than anything in this world. If I hurt Kiritsugu, it would be like hurting Illya. I don't want that and… I don't want their remaining days to have that same shadow hanging over them. I don't want to remind Illya that someday, she'll lose her father. And just like her mother, there will be nothing she can do to stop it." Mayia closed her eyes once Leysritt finished talking. Sella put up a token resistance to the idea but Mayia could tell it was half hearted.

"Alright, we won't tell the children about this however. If they find out about Kiritsugu's condition by themselves. We tell them everything, about the curse and about our reasoning. Agreed?" Mayia demanded despite the wording she used. Both Sella and Leysritt nodded in agreement. The three sat in silence for a moment and drank their tea. It was one of the packets of green tea that Mayia bought when trying to get into tea making as a hobby. It was a soothing flavour with just a touch of bitterness to keep the mind sharp.

Once Sella finished sipping her tea, she looked at Mayia with a conflicted expression.

"Perhaps we could ask Master Zelretch to remove the curse?" Sella felt uneasy just saying his name, she wasn't alone in that feeling.

"I… I'm not sure that would be a smart idea." Mayia looked down into her tea as she said this.

"When Zelretch fixed Lady Illya, he was definitely doing so for a reason. A part of a plan or something along those lines. What's more, he asked for payment. Payment that directly involves the children and will possibly put them in danger… Again." Mayia took a large swig of her tea before continuing. Sella winced at the small display of unkemptness but didn't dare bring it up.

"I get the feeling that if we ask for his help in curing Kiritsugu, he'll ask for some absurd price in return." Mayia went quite again for a good few seconds before refocusing on Sella.

"If you would like to try and ask for his help, I won't stop you Sella but I wouldn't get my hopes up either." Sella nodded at that and the three went back to drinking there tea in silence. The silence didn't end until Illya returned home later that day.

~ _?~_

Thomas resisted the urge to yawn as he walked along the forest path. His blue coat was covered in lines of small ruins, some of which started to glow and hum. Causing Thomas to stop in his tracks. He gave the tree line a disproving look that he usually saved for either his daughter, his wife or Michael.

A great ball of wind shot out from the tree line, only to dispel into a breeze as it hit Thomas barrier. Then with a quick flick of the wrist, Thomas flung a jewel into the tree line and smirked in satisfaction as the forest lit up with electricity and the screams of his would be ambushers. The rustling of leaves then gave away the attacker running at him from behind.

Judging from the noise of the running, it had to be a fairly bulky man. Thomas turned around the moment his attacker's weapon bounced off his barrier and lashed out with two enhanced punches that tore into the man's chest and overpowered what meagre magical defences he might have had.

Thomas then tossed another jewel into the other side of the forest, this time with the sounds of his attackers trying to escape in time, which only served to help Thomas locate them and toss his jewel into the best place to shut them down.

The smell of freshly charred corpses and forest filled the air. It didn't bother Thomas much though, he had gotten used to the stench from his years of taking missions both for his family and as a magical mercenary. Once he was certain that there were no more attackers for the time being, Thomas started to search for the bounded field that his would be foes put up to trap him.

It could only be a make shift bounded field at most, as Thomas had only recent arrived in this part of Europe and he had taken extra care not to be tracked. He did however let himself be spotted by one of the amateurishly made familiars, he had to keep the Aratus family on his trail least they start to search for either his wife or daughter.

Thomas spent twelve minutes searching along the forest trail until he stumbled, quite literally, upon one of the anchors for the Bounded Field. Picking himself up and wiping away the dust on his coat, Thomas turned his attention back to the engraved stone.

The rock didn't belong in the forest, much too smooth and round, like it belonged along the sea side or a lake. The rock also had glowing emerald lines through out it.

"Ah so that's the trick." Thomas hummed to himself as he crushed the stone into a fine powder, and watched as the glow faded into nothing.

"Very clever, they must have someone skilled with earth manipulation and crafting if they can mix in Mana conductive sand into stones." The whistling sound carrying through the air was the only thing that saved Thomas life, as he brought up his barrier. Only to be blown across the path with the ensuing explosion. Thomas switched off his barrier and rolled with impact of the blast then swiftly rolled to his feet.

The sight that greeted him actually caused him to groan in frustration. A giant of a man, easily as tall as six foot six, stood before him in bulky amour with rings of fire swirling around his forearms. Then to add insult to injury, some silencing spell must have been in effect because the man made no sound when he started to charge at him with fireballs in his hands.

Thomas jumped over the attack but not with out some fire singeing his coat. Grunting as he landed, Thomas held in a sigh of relief at the fact that his coat didn't catch fire. The sound of whistling gave him enough warning to jump to the side of the forest path, just in time to see the fireball whizzing past his face.

Ignoring the explosion that went off behind him, Thomas really began to take note of his opponent. For one, the man's amour didn't show off any runes or magic symbols, something which all magus love to flaunt even in combat. Himself being no exception to the rule, so the fire couldn't be coming from the armour.

Thomas dashed forward as he dodged two more explosive fireballs. Trying for some light hand to hand combat, Thomas found his foe wasn't lacking in this art either. With most of his blows being parried… but not blocked interestingly enough. Thomas took note of this little trait as he back peddled and tossed out two electrically charge gems.

The man did try to jump back but was struck by a stray arc of electricity, and the results showed as the man writhed about in pain for a moment. Thomas had to hide a smirk at this and pulled out his combat knife. The armoured man clearly wasn't frilled with the idea of close quarters combat again as he began to toss fireball after fireball at Thomas who deftly dodged each throw but wasn't making any head way either.

That's when an idea started to form in his mind.

' _His armour must not be for blocking attacks, but for guarding against his own magic. An assassin then! It would most certainly have worked on your average magus but...'_ Thomas smiled with an air of haughty smugness as he threw his knife at his foe mid dodge.

The knife dug into the man's shoulder causing a pause in the barrage of fireballs, instead of closing the distance like last time. Thomas flicked the last of his lightning gems at his foe and watched as the electricity danced onto his combat knife, and caused his giant of a foe to spasm and shake, no howls of pain were heard though. Such was the silencing spell and so Thomas watched the odd event of a corpse falling to the ground without a sound being made.

The smell of smoke filling the air did cause Thomas to look away from the corpse as he remembered that he had been fighting a fire user. With a sigh at the waste of resources, Thomas threw some ice gems into the beginning forest fire and watched as the starting blaze was engulfed into large shards of ice. Looking more crystal then icicle.

With that little distraction over, Thomas continued along the forest path.

' _That's the last lot from the Aratus family for now. Which gives me two weeks down time to gain some new allies myself. I swear, Michael was the only reason I got involved with that Magus Killer. Still I've gained a deadly ally and the favour of his family, a reasonable gain all things considered.'_ Thomas paused for a moment as his destination was in sight.

' _While losing some face with some researchers at the Clock Tower is bothersome, this is an excellent chance to curry favour with the church.'_ Thomas smiled as he exited the forest and made his way down the path. Not too far off in the distance was a church, or at least what passed for one.

The building had all the signs of wear and tear, ranging from faded and flaky paint, old replacement wood, and even little claw marks on the support stands underneath the building. But despite this the building still seemed to have this warm and welcoming aura about it. Thomas even felt his guard relax just a little because of it and smiled, it reminded him of youthful days.

Shaking his head free of such sentiment, Thomas knocked firmly on the old wooden door three times. The person who opened the door was an older man who wore a priest clothes but had the body of a fighter. Any doubt Thomas might have had about this man's character was swiftly banished as he smiled and reached for a hand shake.

"Good evening, you must be Thomas Edelfelt. I'm Garan Drang, it's a pleasure to meet you!" His voiced had a noticeable German accent but Thomas didn't care, the man had the kind of warmth you just couldn't fake. Thomas grabbed his hand and shook it firmly.

' _Oh, this is the hand of a working man._ ' Thomas had to stop himself from chuckling, Michael's love for children's shows was rubbing off on him it seemed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well." Thomas smiled back at the happy German priest and started to head inside once Garan gestured for him to do so. The inside of the church smelled of candle smoke and fruit. Waiting inside were two more people, another burly man from the church and a young woman in a classy suit.

"Thomas, this is Bazett Fraga McRemitz and Kirei Kotomine. They will be joining us for this hunt." Garan then walked over to where the pair where sitting. Thomas joined the group and gratefully took the apple offered by Garan.

"Bazett, Kirei, this is Thomas Edelfelt. He'll be assisting us." Bazett nods at Thomas in acknowledgement. Kirei greeted him with a smile and Thomas immediately felt something was wrong. Like he was staring down a beast rather then a man, it had been years since he met someone like this.

"It's a pleasure to met you Thomas, I hope we can have a wonderful partnership on this mission." Kirei greeted him with warm tones and smiles. Thomas wasn't buying it for a second but his companions didn't seem to mind the man, best not to make a scene for now.

"Now that we're all here, we can go over the finer details of the mission." Garan said as he pulled a folder from underneath a bench.

"The demon in question has recently taken up residence in cave deep within the woods, our scoots were able to confirm this when they found a bear with it's arms ripped off and it's chest imploded." Garan took a brief moment to pray for the creature, with only Kirei join him in said pray. Thomas noted that Kirei's sounded mechanical but held a degree of honesty, it didn't suit the man at all in Thomas opinion.

"Now our job is relativity simple, kill the demon and provide relief and support to anyone who suffered by the beast's hands. However there is one hitch in the information gathered." Garan pulled out some of the files from the folder. Each page containing a wildly different location, ranging from city alleway to the African Savanna.

' _Strange, truly strange. Most young demons take shelter and try to fortify themselves, if this one knows how to run. Then we may have a fun hunt on our hands.'_ Thomas tried to hide the small smirk appearing on his.

"These are all the locations where the demon has been encountered, through either combat, detection, or the locals holding enough faith to scare it off. The demon knowing how to escape is troubling enough but the second problem is this." Garan pulled out some more pictures, each of a different shadowy creature.

"These are all photos of the same demon." That caused everyone to look at Garan with some surprise.

"My friends, I have two theories on how this is possible. The first is troubling but what hope is the situation. The creature is merely a Magus experiment involving demonic energy gone wrong with the test subject being warped by the power." Garan's voice lacked a certain confidence.

"The second theory I have is the one I hope is wrong, that we're dealing with a demon who's been empowered by something. Allowing it to shape shift and give it some form of intellect, what ever could empower a demon to a state like this must be either contained or destroyed." Garan started to put all the files back in the folder.

"Any questions?" The silent confidence was all the answer Garan needed. That night, the hunt began.

 **Chapter Finish**

 **Welcome back to another chapter of The Sword and The Blacksmith!**

 **You know, I swear these chapters are getting longer. Oh well! My plan is coming together wonderfully! The stage is set and you've met most of the actors. AH! I'M SO EXCITED! My joy aside, how's the story feeling for you lot? Is there not enough character interaction? Or maybe you think my pacing is off?**

 **Please let me know by giving me a review, it really does help. Before I go, let me introduce you to my bonus rounds! And no, I refuse to call these bonus bits omake! I may be writing a fan fiction based off Japanese media but no! I refuse to use anything that can't just be translated into proper English!**

 **So until next time ladies and gentlemen, I hope you have a lovely hot chocolate on hand with some biscuits or cookies to dunk with your drink. BYE BYE!**

 _Bonus round! GO!_

"Hey Michael." Shirou asked while taking a break from practice.

"How did you get involved with Magecraft? You really don't act like any other Mage I've met." Much to Michael's surprise, Rin and Illya were also looking at him with curiosity.

"Are you sure?" Before Michael could try to dissuade the group from it's current course, Luvia pipped up.

"It's really a wonderful story! Come on Uncle Mike! Please!" Luvia pouted at him, which merely got a sigh out of Michael.

"All right, take a sit. Because it's one heck of a long story…

My involvement with the Moonlite world didn't start for quite some time. In fact I guess you could say it was a miracle I got involved in the first place. My family was a normal one, happy, content and trying to make a living. Dad was working as a construction worker and Mum managed to get some work as an assistant chef. We really were happy.

So what happened? Mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. It really put stress on us, as well as scaring Mum and me something fierce. Then it was time for Mum to go in for her first operation, I remember she pulled me aside and asked me to be brave. She told me that we would beat this cancer and that things would go back to normal, Dad also told me the same thing.

The operation was a new one, meant to help the body fight off the cancer even after the operation and all that…

Mum had a serve allergic reaction to the medicine used, they tried to save her but… Well… I was seven years old when that happened. Everything after was a blur, the funeral, the reading of her will. It's all very blurry but slowly we started to heal.

I wasn't sad all the time and Dad even worked up the courage to try and go on some dates. A lot of them were one off's with the occasional girlfriend lasting a month or two. It really did help Dad heal and some of those dates are actually family friends still. It was when my Dad was shopping for Christmas presents that he met her.

'Pardon me, could you please direct me to the closest Library? I'm supposed to met up with a work colleague but I'm not having much luck getting there.'

My Dad didn't think much of it and gave her some directions, they went their separate ways but weirdly enough bumped into each other again that same afternoon at a coffee shop.

'Oh hey, it's you. Did you find the Library alright?'

'Yes, your directions were quite clear.'

'Say, do want to get some coffee together? If you're not busy or anything.'

'That's sounds lovely thank you Mister...'

'Bruce, Bruce Wingdom. It's a pleasure to met you Miss?'

'Jenna, Jenna Barre.'

So they sat down for coffee and swapped details. At first Dad didn't call them dates, he was just meeting up with an interesting new friend. Then came the "first" date, then the second and third. I'm sure you can guess the rest. It was when Dad asked her if she would like to move into a house together that she revealed what she was. I just happened to be getting a glass water at the time when I over heard them talking.

'Listen Bruce. I can tell your really serious about continuing this relationship but before we go any further, there's something you have to know about me.'

'Okay? What is it?'

She took a deep breath and activated some spell.

'WHAT IN THE!?'

'SHH! You might wake up Mike!'

'But… How...'

'This is what I needed to tell you about, I'm not a normal person Bruce. I'm what's know as a Magus. I dedicate my life to the pursuit of knowledge and the Root.'

I heard her breath hitch but then she continued.

'It also means that if you don't have an acceptable amount of magical potential then I won't be able to justify my relationship with you to my family any longer.'

The house was silent for a while before my Dad spoke again.

'Then I'll take whatever test needed, because I would like to see where this relationship goes.'

And that was that, Jenna found that Dad had just enough magic circuits to count as a first generation Magus. So she continued dating him and not long after, married him as well. I was told about what Jenna was as well, my lack of surprise also lead to them finding out about my ears dropping.

It was on my ninth birthday that I was also told some more news.

'Mike we have some news for you.' Dad came into my room with a big goofy smile on his face.

'You're going to be a big brother.'

That was the start of everything.

 _Bonus round! STOP!_


End file.
